


The Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit

by seriousxue



Series: A World Without Aang [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (i guess if you consider Aang), Also very sad, Angst, Character Death, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, au: aang lost, kind of, more hakoda is everyone's dad au, slowburn Zutara, zutara parent! au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 66,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24960454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seriousxue/pseuds/seriousxue
Summary: While fighting Fire Lord Ozai, Aang falls.The Avatar is dead, his friends are scattered.Only Zuko and Katara remain, having fled after defeating Azula. Now, eight years later they are still on the run when they find a child who might be the new Avatar. Finally, hope is rekindled and they can try again at saving the world.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Series: A World Without Aang [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890436
Comments: 122
Kudos: 353





	1. Chapter 1

Katara woke up with a start, someone was coming. She sat up and looked around, her eyes taking a few seconds to adjust to the dark, the only light coming from the last few embers of the fire. She looked to her left, Zuko was sitting up too, he must have heard it too. They exchanged glances and she slowly rose to their feet, wordlessly standing back to back.  
“Whose there?” Zuko shouted, making the embers erupt into a flame. Katara pulled the water out of her canteen, it surrounded her arms like an extension of herself. Momo perched himself on Zuko’s shoulder, his tiny fists clenched. 

The trees to their left rustled again, whoever it was wasn’t very good at sneaking. The two braced themselves until someone stumbled out and fell at Zuko’s feet. It was a man, maybe in his thirties. He wore the blue color of the water tribes. Zuko didn’t lower his guard, anyone could wear blue clothes and they had been hurt before. 

“Please….” The man sobbed, “please help us.” Katara stepped out from behind Zuko to face the man, putting the water back in the canteen. He looked up, his face streaked with tears. He looked exhausted like he hadn’t slept in days and had been traveling for months. Probably not dissimilar to how Zuko and Katara looked. 

“Who are you?” Zuko asked. 

“My name is Tonraq.” The man said, “I’m here with my wife and daughter.” 

“You’re from the Sothern water tribe,” Katara said, kneeling down. Zuko didn’t let his guard down. 

“Yes, we need help please, our daughter is special we need to hide her from the fire nation.” The man grabbed Katara’s arms, shaking her with desperation, “you’re a water bender. Please, please help us,” Tonraq began sobbing and Katara glanced up at Zuko. 

“Okay, okay, we can help you. Where is your family?” Katara asked gently, “are they close?” 

“Yes, yes we are camped out not too far from here. I saw the smoke from your fire and came to make sure you weren’t fire nation. My wife is badly hurt.” Tonraq shook, 

“Take us to them,” Katara said. They packed up their stuff. It wasn’t much, two bedrolls, a tarp and some rope, a few bottles of water and some food. Zuko had his swords and the blue spirit mask which he kept hidden in his bag, Katara had Aangs staff. 

They followed Tonraq through the underbrush, it was easy to trace his path through the broken branches and trampled brush. 

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Zuko muttered, his eyes darting back and forth. 

“We have to help if we can,” Katara replied.  
Tonraq’s campsite wasn’t much, a few blankets on the ground near a bunch of sticks that probably used to be a fire. A woman and child were huddled together against a giant polar bear dog who snarled at the newcomers. Momo landed on the bear's head and it relaxed quickly, licking its new friend. 

Tonraq fell to the ground, gently shaking his wife awake, “Senna, I found help,” he said. Senna gasped and rolled over, showing a burn that extended up her side and under the remains of her torn clothes. Katara quickly knelt next to them. 

“I can heal her.” She said, pulling out her healing water and beginning to apply the glowing magic to Senna’s wound. Tonraq watched with wide eyes. 

“You can heal?” He asked, breathless. 

“Yes. It’s an ancient form of water bending.” Katara said, “she’s badly hurt, this might take a while. Lee, give us some light. Zuko eyed the polar bear dog and knelt down, quietly breathing fire into the sticks. 

“How did you do that?” Tonraq asked, “I tried for hours and couldn’t get more than a few sparks.” 

“I’m…I’m good with fire,” Zuko said. They had decided to hide his firebending as much as possible, everyone thought the disgraced prince had died with the Avatar and he liked to keep it that way, they even used fake names. “How did you get here? You’re awfully far from the south pole.” They spoke quietly, the child was still fast asleep next to her mother. 

“Um…” Tonraq looked nervous like he didn’t want to tell the truth, “to be honest we aren’t even sure where we are. When the fire nations' troops started getting too close to us, we just bolted. We’ve been traveling for a few days now. Yesterday they caught up with us and hurt Senna. We aren’t fighters.” He looked ashamed, “but I found this sword in the forest and we were able to fight them off. I don’t know what to do.” 

He pulled out a sword, it was dark black with a red handle and passed it to Zuko to look at. His eyes widened with recognition and his heart began to pound. He glanced at Katara and handed the sword back. 

“Where did you find the sword?” 

“Just on the ground, as if it had fallen from the sky,” Tonraq said. 

“Was there anyone else around? Any signs of a struggle?” 

“No, no just the sword. Do you recognize it?” Tonraq looked at the sword again with renewed curiosity, “its beautifully made. I’m sure it meant a lot to the owner.” 

“It did.” Zuko pulled his knees to his chest. They all sat in silence as Katara finished healing Senna. 

“There’s an earth kingdom town not too far from here.” She said, “there aren’t as many troops and you can hide safely as refugees. Lee and I can help get you there in the morning.” Her eyes scanned the campground, finally resting on the sword. They widened and filled with tears all at once. 

“Where did you get that?” She lunged forward and grabbed it, looking it up and down like an old friend. 

“Just fell from the sky,” Tonraq said, “you know the owner?” he glanced between the two strangers in his camp. 

“Sokka,” Katara said quietly, her throat swelling. Zuko reached forward and put a hand on her shoulder, he knew it wouldn’t comfort her, but he hoped it would remind her she wasn’t alone. 

“Well, maybe you can help me return it to him,” Tonraq said, “I don’t much like fighting.” 

“He’s gone,” Katara said bitterly, tossing the sword aside. 

“Who was he?” Tonraq asked cautiously. Before anyone could respond, the child woke up and stretched. She looked to be about eight years old. 

“Daddy,” she “who are these people?” 

“I guess we haven’t introduced ourselves yet.” Zuko said, “I’m Lee and this is Jade. We are refugees too.” Their simple backstory. The girl stared at them blankly. 

“What happened to your face?” She asked Zuko. Tonraq quickly scolded her and apologized. Zuko smiled, 

“It’s okay, I was in a fight with a firebender and lost.” He said, “it was long ago.” 

“This is my daughter, Korra. She’s a water bender too.” Tonraq said, Katara barely flinched. 

“That’s not all! I can fire- “Korra was shut off by Tonraq quickly covering her mouth and looking at Zuko and Katara with fear. 

“Shhh.” He said, “she likes to pretend sometimes.” Zuko’s head began to spin, what did she mean? “Thank you so much for helping Senna. We should get some sleep.” 

Katara remained motionless, staring at the sword as Zuko rolled out their bedrolls and made sure the fire would last the rest of the night. The family huddled against the giant white beast and quickly fell asleep again. 

Zuko gently grabbed Katara by the shoulders and helped her lay down next to him. She curled into a ball, clutching Sokka's sword. They had lost so much, most of the time they could ignore their pain, but this was a slap in the face. Zuko pulled her close to him and covered her with a blanket. He could feel her gently sobbing and wished there was something he could do. There was nothing though, her brother was gone. Toph and Suki were gone, her father was gone. Uncle Iroh was gone. Aang was gone. They had lost. 

Zuko didn’t sleep the rest of the night, while he trusted the new strangers, they had said firebenders were after them and he didn’t want anything to catch them off guard. In the morning, they all packed up. Katara looked hollow as Zuko forced her to drink water. 

They packed everything onto the polar bear dog, Naga’s back, and began walking towards the earth village. Senna, Korra, and Katara rode on Naga’s while Zuko and Tonraq walked in front. Katara was still clutching the sword, wordless. 

“Who was this Sokka guy?” Tonraq asked quietly, “I’m really sorry if I brought up something sensitive.” 

“He was her brother.” Zuko said, “We lost him and a bunch of our friends at the battle of the Comet. We never found out what happened to them.” 

“That’s the day Korra was born.” Tonraq said, “our village didn’t even know how bad it was going to get. We managed to survive for eight years before-“he trailed off. Zuko stopped his senses on heightened alert. He heard rustling moments before a group of four girls in fire nation uniforms fell from the trees, surrounding the group. 

This seemed to snap Katara back to reality and she leaped off Naga, reaching for her water. Zuko quickly spun around, pulling up his cloak to hide his scar. 

“Well well well.” One of the girls said, “what do we have here?” 

“It looks like a water tribe.” Another one said, “an awfully long way from home, aren’t we?” 

“We are refugees.” Zuko said, “Under fire lord Azula’s creed we have the right to find housing in a nearby village.” The main girl walked up, so she was face to face with Katara. 

“Oh, my aren’t we a little out of touch.” She said with a chuckle, “The fire lord did say that we had to let refugees be, but the Supreme King said we have to eliminate all water tribe.” Zuko exchanged looks with Katara, of course, they were trying to eliminate the water tribe. That’s where the next Avatar is supposed to be.  
“So, I guess the question now is, do we kill, or do we capture.” One of the other girls did a backflip and landed next to Tonraq. Zuko drew his swords. 

“Wait a second,” another girl jumped over Naga and landed gracefully in front of Zuko, “I recognize your voice.” Zuko’s heart sank, he knew she was right. He recognized her voice too. She smirked at Zuko, lifting her hand to flick off his hood. 

“Prince Zuzu, back from the dead,” She smirked, “your sister will be thrilled,” she turned to the other girls, “Ladies we capture them. This one will earn us much favor in the eyes of the fire lord.” 

“Nice to see you again Ty Lin. Or is it Ty Lao? Ty Lum? I can never tell you girls apart.” 

In an instant, Zuko erupted. He stepped forward; his whole body engulfed in flames. Simultaneously, Katara held out her hands. Two of the girls froze, their bodies moving against their will as Katara moved them back towards the trees. 

She could only blood bend two people at once, leaving the last of the girls to attack Naga. The polar bear dog roared and swatted at her with a paw, but the girl leaped away from the paw, landing gently on some leaves. 

Tonraq stood in front of Naga, blocking the bear with his body. He was shaking in fear, his eyes darting between the assailants and the stranger who was on fire in front of him. Korra leaped out of the saddle and ran up to Katara. 

“I want to help!” She said Katara glanced down at the child. 

“No, get back with your mother,” She said, “It’s too dangerous.” Katara quickly grabbed the water from her canteen, turning it into ice and using it to bind the two girls to a nearby tree.

Ty Lin was leaping around Zuko, dodging his attacks and looking for a way in. She pulled a dagger out and threw it at his face. He tried to block it but the dagger still hit his arm, embedding itself in his shoulder. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground, his flames extinguished. 

Korra glanced around and saw the canteen of drinking water dangling off Naga’s saddle. She bent the water out and made it form a swirling whirlwind around the warrior facing her, it didn’t last for long though and soon the fire nation girl was punching through, landing behind Korra and rapidly hitting her a few times. Korra fell to the ground, her chi blocked. 

Katara yelled, the water erupting again into a tentacle which whipped around and caught the girl at the waist, pulling her high into the air and freezing. 

Now only Ty Lin was left, she faced Katara with a smirk.  
“You must be Zuzu’s new girlfriend.” She taunted, 

“She’s not … my girlfriend.” Zuko managed to croak out from behind, stumbling to his feet. 

“Oh really? You have a dagger in your shoulder and that’s the hill you are going to die on?” Katara asked, rolling her eyes. 

“The water bending master. Friend of the Avatar.” Ty Lin continued, “You know how much the fire lord hates you? Almost as much as she hates her brother.” 

“The feeling is mutual,” Katara growled, Ty Lin shrugged and took a step back, ready to leap at Katara when seemingly out of nowhere Tonraq leaped at her, tackling her to the ground from behind. Katara acted quickly, forming ice daggers with the last of the water and pinning Ty Lin to the ground by her clothes. 

Once the girls were properly restrained, Katara ran over to Zuko. He collapsed against her, leaving her to hold almost his entire body weight. He had already lost a lot of blood. 

Katara moved to lay him down to heal him but he stopped her, “we have to get out of here first, once They escape and tell my sister where we are it’s over.” Katara hated to see him in so much pain but she agreed. They loaded Zuko on Naga’s back and the last thing he remembers is slouching forward against the bear, Momo chattering in his ear. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zuko woke up laying down in a cave, his shoulder aching. He slowly sat up took stock of his surroundings. His swords were next to him, as was some water and bread. The cave was lit up from glowing stones above. It reminded him of the caves below Ba Sing Se, where he and Katara had had their first conversation that didn’t end in a fight Or, not immediately in a fight

Katara was lying next to him, fast asleep and still clutching Sokka's sword. It probably wasn’t a good idea for her to sleep holding a sharp blade but Zuko didn’t dare try and take it from her. Tonraq and Senna were asleep too, leaning against Naga. Korra was absent. 

Zuko struggled to his feet, he felt wary and tired, but he could move his shoulder and it didn’t feel too bad. This wasn’t the first time Katara had healed him and wouldn’t be the last. He liked having someone take care of him like that, and he liked having someone to take care of too. 

After Aang died and their friends were lost on the day of Sozin’s Comet, Zuko and Katara were the only two remaining. They fled from the fire nation and had spent the last eight years on the run, helping small resistance teams as they could, forming allies across the world. 

It was tireless, thankless, and depressing but he was glad they were together. 

He wandered out of the cave and discovered they were in an underground temple of some sort, another cultural relic that had been destroyed by the fire nation. There was a pond in the middle of a giant cavern with the statue of some old Earth Nation hero towering above. Zuko heard something from the other side of the statue, it sounded like Momo so he went to check it out, the thought that it could be dangerous not even crossing his mind. 

As he walked out from behind the statue he almost got hit in the face by a fireball. He dissipated it with his hand and turned to face the assailant, his fists bursting into flames. He took a defensive stance, centering himself towards the source of the fire. 

It was Korra.

The child stood there with wide eyes, she blushed as Zuko lowered his hands. 

“Did you….firebend?” He asked quietly. Korra looked terrified. Suddenly everything fell into place, she was born the day Aang died. She could firebend, she could waterbend. She was from the water tribe, “you…you’re the avatar.” He whispered. 

“I’m sorry!!!” Korra cried out, “please don’t tell my dad you saw me, he said I’m only allowed to water bend I can’t do anything else or I’ll be in big trouble.” 

“He was right.” Zuko knelt down, staring at the girl with renewed hope, “what else can you do?” 

“I can earthbend a little,” she punctuated that thought by stomping on the ground, causing a bolder to erupt next to them. 

“Can you airbend?” Zuko asked, 

“No. I don’t know why it just…doesn’t work.” She tried pushing air out of her hands like she was firebending, nothing happened. 

“That’s okay. That’s okay you are still really young.” Zuko smiled and ruffled her hair. “come on I think we need to talk to my friend.” 

“Jade?” Korra asked, bouncing to keep up with Zuko’s long steps. 

“Her name is actually Katara.” He said, “she’s from the Sothern water tribe just like you.” 

Zuko gently shook Katara awake, quickly blocking the sword as she swung it at him on instinct. They both often woke up in a startle, attacking on reflex so they were both prepared to block the other, “Katara,” Zuko whispered, feeling himself almost smile for the first time in years, “Katara I’ve found the Avatar.”


	2. Chapter 2

“What do you mean our daughter is the Avatar?” Tonraq and Senna stared at Zuko and Katara, clutching their daughter between them.

“Only the avatar can bend more than one element.” Katara said, “you knew she was special. That’s why you ran.”

“Yes but…the avatar died.” Senna said, “he was defeated right? Supreme Leader Ozai said there would be no more avatars.”

“Yes. That’s what we thought too but there’s no other explanation. She can already bend three of the elements and she was born the same day Aang died.” Zuko said the last part quietly, he hated mentioning Aangs death in front of Katara. He had been her best friend and Zuko always wondered if something else had been going on between them.

what does this mean? What do we do?”

“She has to be taken somewhere safe. Safer than this earth kingdom village. She has to train too; she needs to learn from masters.” Katara said.

“But…she’s just a child.” Senna clutched her daughter, “she can’t train.”

“If there is any hope of ever defeating Azula and Ozai she has to be prepared. Katara and I both trained the last avatar, we can help. We will protect you.” He said firmly.

“Where will we go? Where is safe from the fire nation?” Tonraq asked, “she can’t train in a random village.”

The group fell silent. He was right. The fire nations reach was wide, nowhere was safe. Zuko racked his brain for anywhere they could go. He grabbed Katara’s bag and pulled out Sokkas old maps of the world, Azula no doubt had troops stationed anywhere they had been with Aang. Katara told him they were in some old tunnels at the edge of the forest. The closest town was a plains village. Zuko stared, hoping somewhere would jump out at him.

Nowhere seemed safe, nowhere would be safe. His eyes traveled over to the original land of the fire nation, closer to the capitol that Azula ruled. He stared at The Boiling Rock, the prison he and Sokka had invaded once, breaking out Sokkas dad and girlfriend, Suki. He stared at the map, trying to put himself in Azula’s head. She could look anywhere; he was good at tracking down Avatars but Azula was good at tracking down Zuko. Eventually, he dozed off, his head leaning against the back of the cave and the maps scattered around.

While he was half asleep he felt Katara come in and put the maps aside, gently moving Zuko so he was laying down. She then continued to look at them, trying to figure out where to take the new hope they had.

By morning Katara and Zuko had exhausted almost all the ideas they had.

“I miss Appa,” Katara sighed, Momo chattered in agreement.

“Who is Appa?” Korra asked, peering over Katara's shoulder at the maps.

“He was the last avatar’s spirit animal. Like you have Naga. He was a giant flying bison. We flew everywhere on his back. He was also Momo’s best friend.”

“Oh. Where did he go?” Korra peered up with wide eyes.

“He was linked to Aang when Aang died Appa just couldn’t keep going,” Katara said.

“Does that mean Naga will die?” Korra ran over and threw her tiny arms around the giant bear.

“Not for a long time.” Katara smiled. Korra was full of energy and curiosity, she reminded Katara of Aang, just without the patience and pacifism that the monks had taught him. If only there were still Monks to teach Korra, Katara thought. Then it struck her. She turned to Zuko who was still asleep next to her and gently shook him awake, “Zuko…do you know where we could get a balloon ship?”

“A balloon ship?” Zuko rubbed the sleep from his eyes, staring up at Katara without moving.

“Yeah, what if we went to the Southern Air Temple? It’s far away and difficult to get to, it’s been abandoned for years. You didn’t even find us when we went there before. Plus, if we are going to have to teach her Air bending it won’t hurt to be at an air temple.”

“We will need to steal a ship from the fire nation.” Zuko slowly sat up, looking at the map, “I bet Gaoling will have something.” Katara and Zuko looked at each other and almost smiled, this was the first time in years they had a plan. They had hope, they had a reason to keep fighting.

“Ok, then it’s settled. Tomorrow we head for Gaoling, get supplies and a ship and then move on to the Air Temple.” Katara explained to Korra and her parents.

“How are we going to steal a ship?” Senna asked, “that seems wrong. We have a little money maybe we can buy one?”

“The fire nation won’t sell you a ship and it’s the best way to travel, Gaoling is a merchant city, we can get a merchant ship, and no one will bother us. Don’t worry though, you three won’t have to steal. Katara, you and Tonraq go into the village tomorrow during the day. You can buy supplies and look around at the ships. I’ll stay with Senna and Korra here, it's better if we travel with fewer people.”

“Then how will you steal it?” Tonraq asked nervously,

“How do you feel about a little blue spirit, painted lady reunion?” Katara asked Zuko nodded.

“We go during the night. Trust us, they won’t even know it’s gone.”

The next morning, Tonraq covered himself in Zuko’s cloak to hide his water tribe clothes and headed into the city with Katara.

“Have you been here before?” He asked as they approached the giant gates.

“Once. We met one of my best friends here, she trained the old avatar in earth bending.” Katara didn’t elaborate.

“So, you traveled with the last avatar? You taught him water bending?”

“Yeah, my brother and I were the ones who found him. He was trapped in an iceberg in the south pole, we freed him, and I helped train him in water bending.”

“The south pole?”

“Yes. I’m also from the Southern Water Tribe.” Katara, “my father is Hakoda.”

“You’re Hakoda’s kid?” Tonraq stopped, “we heard all about him growing up. He was a legend. So were his kids. I can’t believe I ran into you! So, you’re saying the sword we found belonged to Hakoda’s son?”

“It’s still Sokkas sword,” Katara said, her voice hard. Tonraq stopped,

“Yes, yes of course,” he jogged to keep up with her. They were inside the city and while Tonraq bought clothes for his family, food and water and some more rope and blankets, Katara looked around the city. The cacti seemed to come in on smaller airboats that stayed parked in the back. She wandered down an alley to see if she could find more and came face to face with a photo of Zuko.

A wanted sign for Zuko, the disgraced prince, dead or alive. Katara grabbed the poster and shoved it in her pocket. They would have to be very careful if places like Gaoling had wanted posters everywhere would. His hair was longer now than it was in the photo, it fell to his shoulders when down, but he mostly kept it tied back. His face was harder too, his jaw more defined. He was almost unrecognizable from the poster, based on what he looked like at seventeen.

Unfortunately, Zuko had one damming trait that made him the most identifiable person in the world- the scar. Katara could cut her hair and dress differently and she looked like any other girl, but Zuko couldn’t do much to hide the red burn that took up most of his face.

Katara finished looking at the ships and went back to find Tonraq.

“I’m going to find somewhere that sells makeup.” She told him, “better safe than sorry.” If he wanted to know what she meant by that, he didn’t ask. She quickly finished her purchases and they headed back to the cave.

Inside, Zuko was trying to teach Korra the basics of firebending. They weren’t bending anything, just doing stretches and the Dance of the Dragon. “I was so worried when she started bending,” Tonraq said, “water benders are prosecuted quickly in our village. Korra could bend earth and fire too, it just seemed too much. I never thought though that she would be the Avatar.”

“She’s already incredible. I’m sure it won’t be long before she masters all the elements.” Katara said.

“I don’t know if that’s what I want for her. The last avatar was only twelve when he died.” Tonraq said somberly, Katara didn’t respond. What could she say?

Katara and Zuko tried to sleep before their heist that night but they couldn’t. They lay on their backs next to each other, staring at the ceiling.

“Zuko you know what this means right?” Katara asked finally, “it means Aang is really dead.” She blinked, Zuko pretended not to notice a tear rolling down her face. He didn’t know what to say, so instead, he grabbed her hand and held it tightly until it was time for them to leave. Katara put her face paint on and donned the hat with a veil she wore as the Painted Lady. Zuko put his mask on and grabbed his dual swords.

They quietly entered the city, jumping from roof to roof. A tile from the roof fell to the ground as Katara pushed off to jump, shattering on the ground below. They froze, ears perked, but no one stirred so the two continued on their way. Five large balloon ships were parked behind the stores. Katara scanned, looking for the tiny one she saw earlier.

She spotted it, parked in the corner. It looked dusty like it hadn’t been used for a while. It looked like it would barely fit the five of them plus Naga, but they didn’t want to draw attention. This is all they needed.

Zuko jumped off the roof and reached up to help Katara down. She ignored his hands and leaped down on her own, landing gracefully a few feet in front of him. He smiled; grateful she couldn’t see behind the mask. “This is perfect!” he said, looking at the boat.

“Can you get it to work?” Katara asked as they jumped on board. Zuko went to the engine, it was an older model. It just required some good old fashioned firebending. In seconds, the ship was up and moving and they were on their way back to the entrance to the caves.

“That seemed a little too easy,” Zuko pulled his mask up and looked over the city nervously, Katara kept a steady gaze like a hawk.

“I don’t think anyone noticed.” She said, her brow furrowed. It did seem too easy. 

They landed and loaded everyone up. Korra was asleep on Naga’s back as Zuko pumped fire into the balloon, flying high above the clouds and headed towards the Southern air temple.


	3. Chapter 3

“Zuko don't get mad,” Katara started slowly, her companion turned to look at her cautiously. They had been at the air temple for a few days and were trying to figure out how to get more food on a regular basis. Katara and Zuko had turned the dining hall of the old dormitory into their main base, they all slept in the old dorms.

“No promises,” he replied, sitting opposite her at the table and pouring some tea.

“I found this in Gaoling.” Katara pulled the wanted poster out of her pocket, Zuko looked at it for a moment and then laughed, he reached into his own pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. It was another wanted poster, just like the Zuko one with a picture of Katara when she was seventeen.

"I found this in Gaoling.” He said, “when we were stealing the ship. I didn’t want you to get weird about it.”

“Well look at us.” Katara put the pictures next to each other, “we’re so different now.”

_You’ve gotten so beautiful_. Zuko thought, before quickly pushing that thought deep down and taking a big gulp of too-hot-tea. He spluttered and tried to regain his cool while Katara eyed him with amusement. He was glad that they were together, they kept each other grounded and sane. This was no time to start getting complicated feelings.

“What are we going to do?” Zuko asked, “we can’t go into nearby villages looking like this.”

“I’ll be right back.” Katara got up and returned moments later with a mirror and a knife. She handed the mirror to Zuko, “hold this up so I can see.” Then she sat down and grabbed a handful of hair. Katara’s hair had always been long, she usually kept it in loops like traditional water tribe hair but lately, she had been keeping it up more, earth nation style.

She held the knife to her hair and Zuko watched in a mixture of horror and awe as she lobbed off a chunk of hair. She kept hacking until most of her hair was on the ground and the rest was an uneven choppy mess that fell just below her shoulders.

“Well?” She asked him, “how do I look?”

“Um… uh…. well,” he spluttered, trying to find a word that wouldn’t make her mad but also wasn’t a lie. He was saved by Tonraq who was coming in to get some water.

“What did you _do to yourself?_ ” He asked, aghast. Katara grabbed the mirror from Zuko to get a better look.

“Is it that bad?” She asked Zuko remained silent, “why didn’t you tell me I was doing a terrible job??” Zuko shook his head, again remaining silent. He had learned long ago when Katara was upset it was better to just let her tire herself out.

"Oh, dear was that your first time cutting your own hair? Here, here give me the knife.” Tonraq came up behind her and grabbed the knife. In moments her choppy hair was evened out. It was shorter now and still thick, she tied it back in a short ponytail. With her hair like this, Katara looked so much like Sokka it was almost uncanny.

“Better?” Katara asked, Zuko nodded a little too eagerly.

“You look like…a different person,” he said.

“I’ve always cut Korra’s hair.” Tonraq offered, sitting down as Zuko poured him tea, “I also overheard you two talking about getting supplies. Why don’t Senna and I go into town from time to time.”

“We couldn’t possibly put you in danger like that,” Katara said.

“What danger? We are nobodies. You can drop us off near the outskirts and we can go in and get supplies. It’s the least we can do, you two are protecting and training Korra.” And so, it was settled.

For the next two months, Zuko and Katara took turns teaching Korra about water and fire bending. Zuko also taught Tonraq and Senna basic sword skills, using staffs left over by the air nomads. Katara spent her free time wandering around the temples, trying to connect to Aang’s spirit. This was his home before they met.

She liked to sit at the fountain near the top, dipping her feet in the cool water and watching the sunset. Today Zuko joined her. They sat wordlessly for a few hours, a comfortable silence they were used to. They had been alone for eight years with very little interaction with others, so they had learned to not talk to each other as much as they had learned to talk to each other.

“The first time Aang went into the avatar state was here.” Katara said after a while, “it was so scary.” Zuko said nothing, if she wanted to continue the story she would.

“We had only known him a few days, he still didn’t know 100 years had passed,” she stared over the horizon, “he saw the Nomad’s bodies and the fire nation armor and just…lost control. He almost really hurt Sokka and me.”

“I’m glad he didn’t,” Zuko said simply, he wasn’t good at saying comforting things but thankfully Katara understood that about him.

“What do you think is going to happen to Korra? Can she really defeat your father and your sister?”

“I don’t know, but this is the closest we’ll ever come. We have to hold onto hope.” Zuko sighed, “what would my Uncle say? _Sometimes the last leaf in the teapot is the one with the most flavor.”_ Zuko imitated his uncle.

“What does that mean?” Katara laughed, causing Zuko’s cheeks to flush.

“I don’t know! He said a bunch of meaningless stuff all the time.” He turned away, pouting. Katara kept laughing, and Zuko pushed her into the fountain. She landed with a splash, staring with shock at him as he began to laugh. She quickly bent the water, so it reached up and grabbed him, pulling the disgraced prince into the fountain too. Soon they were both laughing as he tackled her, and they wrestled in the water for a few minutes. 

Eventually, they were tired and stood up, drenched. Zuko took off his shirt and sank back into the water, leaning against the side. Katara also took off her outer dress to the clothes she usually swam in. They sat in the water together until the sun was below the horizon and it was starting to get cold.

The peace in the Air Temple lasted longer than it should have. The attack came early in the morning, just as the sky began to turn blue with daylight. A crash like thunder came from outside, followed by the whole building shaking and cracking. Katara and Zuko shot up, grabbing all their valuables. Katara rushed to Korra and her family, moving them deep into the temple as they had planned in case of an attack.

Zuko went to a window to peer outside, he returned with a grim look.

“It’s fire nation all right,” he said, “it looks like a prison ship. They must have followed us somehow.”

“You all stay here, stay quiet. They might not know you’re with us.” Katara said Korra leaped up into one of the battle stances Zuko had taught her.

“I want to fight!” She said,

“You have to protect your parents,” Zuko said seriously, “they need your help. If we don’t come back stay here, out of sight. Keep safe. We will come back to you.” Korra nodded seriously, looking back at her parents. She stood in front of them and her hands lit on fire. The five of them exchanged final glances as another blast shook the temple. Katara and Zuko ran outside.

“Come out and surrender now! The fire lord Azula will go easy on you if you surrender!” A voice came from the ship,

“That doesn’t sound like her,” Zuko muttered. They went outside, battle-ready, and faced the vessel that was landing in front of them.

The door opened and a troop of fire nation soldiers marched out, led by a tall older man. Zuko tensed in shock.

“Admiral Zhao.” He said,

“The creep who attacked us at the north pole?” Katara asked, Zuko nodded.

“Ah, little prince.” Zhao said, smiling, “I’ve waited so long for this.” They all stopped walking and Zhao stood about ten feet away from Katara and Zuko.

“How did you survive?” Zuko asked, “I tried to save you…I watched you drown.”

“You watched me get pulled underwater yes, but that was not my time. It seems that this is your time though young prince.”

Katara scanned the airship, there had to be at least fifty fire nation troops on board. Maybe some prisoners too. If they could overpower them then maybe they could set them free.

“How lucky for me that while transferring these pour souls to their new homes I happened to notice a fire nation balloon. I remembered getting news that the disgraced fire prince and the avatars girlfriend were traveling through the area. Imagine my luck when I land at this temple and you two come out.”   
Zuko felt relief, that meant he didn’t know about Korra and her family. If only they could stay hidden.

“Where are you going with them? Boiling Rock is the other way.” Zuko said, trying to stall so he could think of a plan of attack.

“Oh, they are headed away from Boiling Rock. A group of the last troublemakers. They are headed for their own prison. Besides, Boiling Rock was getting too full, torturing individual prisoners was too difficult.”

Katara and Zuko exchanged glances, the same thought going through their heads.   
“Fine, Admiral Zhao I challenge you to an Agni Kai,” Zuko said, stepping forward. At the same time, Katara pulled all the water from the fountain and formed her tentacle arms and preparing to attack.

“Zuko…what are you doing?” She whispered. Apparently, the same thought was not going through their heads.

“That’s cute, but no. I don’t think I will.” Zhao said, “I would rather overpower you the old-fashioned way.” Zhao stood back and the troops advanced. Katara and Zuko fell into their old position, back to back.

They had fought together for years and by now they worked like a well-oiled machine. They became two sides of a coin. Taking out a generic masked fire nation was easy; they had done it before.

They began pushing closer to the ship where Zhao was standing in the doorway. The more men they incapacitated, the more that emerged from the bowels of the ship. Finally, Zuko and Katara were fully on the ship and with one fell swoop, Zuko kicked Zhao in the chest, pushing him to the ground and holding a flaming fist in his face. Katara put up a wall of water around them, stopping the other fire benders from interfering.

Zhao laughed, “I think we are done here.” He said. Then the whole ship jolted, the doors began to close and Katara and Zuko realized too late what was happening.   
  
He didn’t need to capture them to take them, prisoner, Zuko, and Katara walked right onto the ship.


	4. Chapter 4

Zuko stood up, quickly pinning Zhao’s hands behind his back and shoving him against the wall.

“TURN THIS SHIP AROUND.” He yelled. They had been distracted by the takeoff though and the guards overpowered Katara and Zuko, putting them in steel handcuffs and dragging them to the row of cells.

“Sorry, you have to share.” Zhao sneered, “But you should be grateful. This is the last time you will ever see each other again.”

They threw Zuko in first, he fell on the ground and tried to get up before they threw Katara into him, they both fell to the ground. The door slammed behind and the guards retreated.

The two sat up slowly which was difficult with their hands tied. There was a dim light in the corner of the cell and some straw on the floor. In one corner was a bucket, probably to be used as a toilet. Other than that, there was nothing.

They were one cell in a row of many, with another row facing them. Katara yelled out in rage.

“How were we so STUPID” she stood up and began pacing, Zuko began trying to escape the handcuffs, “we walked RIGHT into his trap.”

“Katara calm down.” Zuko said, “come here and see if you can figure out how to get these off.” She sighed, kneeling down behind him and looking at the handcuffs. He tried to move them closer to her but just ended up falling on his face.

“Maybe if there was water, I could make a key out of ice.” She whispered. Zuko nodded and began coughing loudly, Katara understood and pressed her face against the bars, “help! He needs water! He’s choking, please! Please give us some water.” The guard stepped closer, peering at them, Zuko kept coughing dramatically.

“Okay, okay just a sip.” The solder pulled his canteen off his belt and poured some water into Zuko’s mouth. A few drips fell down his chin and onto the ground.

“thank you, sir.” Katara said as she helped Zuko to the corner, “now spit it into my hands.” She whispered, Zuko’s eyes widened and he shook his head, “listen this is grosser for me than you so let’s just get it over with okay?” she turned around and cupped her hands behind her. After a few seconds, she felt the water and began to bend it, “okay now turn around so I can feel the lock.

Katara closed her eyes and felt for Zuko’s hands, they were rough and calloused from the constant firebending. Katara made the water fill the lock so it was pushing on all the pins inside then froze it, turning it into a key which she turned, undoing his handcuffs with a click. He pulled them off and quickly used the ice key to free Katara.

“Now what?” he whispered. Katara shook her head.

There was an echo from down the hall like someone was dragging themselves across the floor.

“Katara?” a voice said weekly, “is that you?”

Katara stared into the darkness, her heart not daring to believe what she heard, then she croaked out, “dad?”

“Katara oh my god it is you, your alive.” Hakoda sounded like he was a few cells down.

“Dad.” Katara began weeping, pressing herself against the bars.

“Who is with you? Is that Sokka?” Hakoda’s voice was full of hope.

“No…it’s Zuko. I haven’t seen Sokka since…I assumed you all…I assumed he…” Katara tried to form a sentence. Zuko was peering out the door, trying to figure out how to escape.

“It’s okay! I’m just glad you’re alive.” Hakoda said, “how did you get captured?”

“Zhao found us,” Katara said, not daring say more. Zuko figured there were three guards on their floor. He did some quick math in his head and then crawled over to Katara.

“We wiped out most of his crew, there are probably less than fifteen guards on board. If we free the prisoners on this floor, we will outnumber them.” He said, “Katara I need you to blood bend and get the keys.”

Katara hated blood bending. She felt evil whenever she did it, she hated controlling others against their will. She had refused to do it for years, thinking about how Aang would feel if she did. Zuko slowly convinced her that the ends justified the means, she wasn’t killing anyone and really wasn’t hurting them that badly. She still reserved it for emergencies, which this was. Before, waterbenders could only blood bend during the full moon when their powers were strongest. Now she could blood bend all the time except a new moon. Any bit of moon in the sky would strengthen her powers.

Thankfully this was not a full moon.

In moments the guard was at their door, entering the key and releasing her. Then, once she and Zuko were outside, they quickly put all the guards into the cage and locked the door.

Katara freed her father first, hugging him tightly as Zuko opened the rest of the cells. He didn’t recognize anyone else, but they were all willing to help overthrow Zhao.

They slowly made their way through all the rows of cells on the ship, it wasn’t a huge ship but there were still over one hundred cells full of prisoners. Some had only one, like Hakoda’s, and others had upwards of ten people crammed into one cell. There were men and women of all ages. Katara and Zuko gathered the benders to the forefront, there was limited water and not much earth around but that was better than nothing.

They found the captain's quarters with Zhao inside before he could fight Katara pinned him down and handcuffed him to one of the steel bars on the window. “We’ll be back for you,” Zuko said, shutting the door behind him.

  
They moved forward, Zuko had been right. There were only a few guards left and they were quickly overpowered. They made it to the controls and forced the captain to turn the ship around to return to the Southern Temple.

The ship landed only an hour after they had taken off. They all filed off the ship, almost two hundred people had been captured. Katara and Zuko stood on some steps to get a better view. “Boiling Rock overflow. I wonder where they were headed.” Zuko muttered.

“We have their plans now, we can see what was in Zhao’s office.” Katara said, “why don’t you go find Korra and her family and explain what happened. No one can know who she is.” Zuko nodded and lept off, headed into the temple.

  
“Attention everyone!” Katara yelled, “I’m Katara and that was Zuko. We were living here as refugees.” Her eyes scanned the crowd, they fell on her father and she was filled with peace. He was there with her, she wasn’t alone anymore.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Someone shouted from the crowd. Katara glanced back at the temple.

“For now, you can all live here with us. We have some food and there are plenty of beds and warm baths. We will figure out how to slowly move you to other refugee camps in time but for now, know that you are all safe from the fire nation!” There was a roaring cheer as everyone celebrated, “now if anyone is injured please come forward! Zuko will be back soon to take the rest of you to the dorms.”

“Where are we?” Hakoda asked, looking around in awe.

“This is the Southern Air Temple.” Katara said, pulling water from the fountain and healing the burns and bruises that people had, “this is Aangs old home.”

“And you and Zuko have been living here?” Hakoda smiled, “I’m so happy you are alive.” His eyes filled with tears. Katara smiled, her first genuine smile in years.

“I’m really glad we found you.” She said.

They didn’t have nearly enough food for everyone to begin with, but luckily some of the freed prisoners were resourceful and were able to forage fruit and vegetables from the old gardens Katara and Zuko didn’t even know existed. Everyone worked together and soon there was a roaring feast. Katara, Zuko, and Hakoda retired back to the old kitchen where Korra and her family were waiting.

“Dad, I want you to meet the new avatar. Korra, and her parents. Tonraq and Senna of the Southern Water Tribe.” Katara said proudly, “Avatar family, meet my dad.”

Tonraq looked star struck, and soon they were all talking around the table, reminiscing about growing up in the Southern water tribe and talking about how things have changed. Zuko sat quietly eating and listening. He couldn’t really share stories from his own Childhood, there weren’t many happy ones and they all involved the fire nation. After a while, Zuko served more tea as Korra’s family went to bed. Katara and her father sat earnestly talking while Zuko stared out the window at the looming ship.

“So, after you, two defeated Azula you escaped?”

“Yes.” Katara said, “we left to go help Aang and the others, but Appa didn’t make it. We were over open water when he lurched and fell. He died so suddenly and as soon as he hit the water, he was completely swallowed hole. I didn’t want to believe it that’s when we knew we had lost. Zuko and I retreated to a nearby island and stayed there for a while before going back to the mainland and seeing what was left of the old resistance, seeing if we could find Sokka and our other friends.”

Zuko remembered those bitter days. They barely spoke to each other, barely did anything. They had just become friends a few days before, now they were alone in the world. It was harder for Katara, she lost everyone she loved in one fell swoop and was left with a kid she only kind of trusted and only recently stopped hating. They searched everywhere for their friends but if they were still alive the fire lord was keeping them well hidden.

“You two have been through so much.” Hakoda said finally, “I’ve just been in prison all this time.”

“That must have been so hard dad,” Katara said, she grabbed his hand and held it tightly as if she would never let go.

“It’s okay Katara, I’m here with you now and that’s all I want.” Hakoda smiled and ruffled Katara’s hair, “now I’m exhausted. Can I find a bed around here or what?” Katara laughed and led her dad to Zuko’s room, he barely used it anyway and it was one of the nicer rooms in the building.

Zuko and Katara had spent years sleeping next to each other while on the run it was uncomfortable for them to be apart now. They both slept easier knowing the other was an arm’s reach away.

Tonight though, it gave them time to talk. Katara was obviously elated her father was around and her good mood was contagious, finally, they had hope in the new Avatar and they found her dad. If he was alive still maybe their other friends were too.

Katara sat next to Zuko on his bed, leaning against the wall as they talked about the next steps. The prisoners couldn’t stay there, it would be too obvious, and the ship was going to look for them anyway. It would be safer for them to take small pilgrimages, leaving them with their friends and refugee friendly cities across the nation. Then they could keep training Korra and return to their plan of keeping her safe.

There was another possibility, left unspoken. If they were going to an even more secure prison, there was a chance that’s where the old avatars' closest friends were being held. That might be where Sokka and Toph and Suki were. Eventually, Zuko and Katara drifted into an uneasy sleep, peppered with dreams of hope.


	5. Chapter 5

Planning what to do with the new refugees was a daunting task. Zuko knew that it would be difficult, also knew how little time they had. Every day spent at the air temple was another day closer to other Fire Nation troops finding them.

Zuko, Katara, Hakoda, and some of the other refugees spent hours pouring over everything in Zhao’s office. They read every single correspondence, looked at all the maps, responded to every letter from every hawk.

Zuko interrogated Zhao a few times, at night when Katara was asleep or talking to her dad. He didn’t want her to know what he was doing because he knew she would disapprove. It ended up being useless, anything Zhao knew they already saw in his office.

They began training Korra in secret, if anyone else found out the new avatar was here it could have proven dangerous. They agreed that her presence was best kept a secret until the very end.

Every couple of days, a small group would head to a nearby village, spreading farther and farther out. The refugees were dropped off outside and would then try and make it on their own. Most of them were earth kingdom troops or defectors from the fire nation, they could handle themselves.

After about two months, they had finally finished sending the last of the refugees to Gaoling, only Korra and her family, Zuko, Katara, and Hakoda remained at the temple. Zuko and Katara went to the prison boat to bring food and water to the troops locked in the cages.

Finally, they made it to Zhao, who had his own floor and his own cage far away from anyone or anything flammable. He was in the corner of his cell when they walked up, Zuko passing a tray of food and tea under the door and kneeling to be at eye level with the old admiral.

“Your time here is almost over,” Zuko said, “tomorrow we are sending you back to the fire nation in disgrace.” Zhao said nothing, “I wish I could be there to see what Azula will do with you when she finds out you let 200 of the fire nation’s most dangerous enemies go, especially when she finds out it was her dear brother who freed them.” For the first time, Zuko saw something like fear flash in Zhao’s eyes.

“Wait, don’t send me back,” he pleaded, crawling to the door and grasping at the bars. Zuko and Katara took a step back, Katara’s water at the ready, “I’ll do anything please, she will kill me.” Zuko and Katara exchanged glances.

“You have nothing we want,” Katara said, turning to leave. Zuko started to follow when Zhao grabbed at the bottom of his pants.

“Wait, please, I have information you want. I know where the others are.”

Katara stopped in her tracks,

“What others?”

Zhao laughed, his eyes glinting in the flickering light. He looked like he had just won, and maybe he had. “I know where your brother is.” He snarled. Katara went still, Zuko felt like all air had been sucked out of the room.

“Katara, don’t trust him,” Zuko said, “he’s lying.”

“Sokka wasn’t it? There were others with him. Two girls, quite the pains I’ll tell you that much. We had to design a prison cell made entirely of wood to restrain the little earth bender.”

“You’re lying.” Katara said quietly, her fists clenched, “besides, you had your chance to give us information.” She kept walking, Zuko a few feet behind.

Katara didn’t turn around until they were off the ship and were headed towards the temple. She stopped and fell to her knees, shaking. Zuko knelt beside her and saw her face streaked with tears. He put his hand on her shoulder in a futile attempt to comfort her.

“Katara, what if he’s right?” Zuko asked quietly, “what if Sokka and Toph and Suki are still alive?”

“Are you saying we should trust him? He’s a coward, a liar. He’s so stubborn he almost drowned because he didn’t want to accept your help. What makes you think he would suddenly be telling the truth now? When we’ve given him so many chances?”

“I…I don’t know. He’s probably lying,” Zuko agreed, “but if he isn’t shouldn’t we try and rescue them?”

“And then what? We can’t just do whatever we want anymore Zuko! We aren’t just the two of us. We have the Avatar now; we have to protect and train her.” Katara was almost yelling now. She pushed herself to her feet and began walking inside,

“And let your brother rot?” Zuko called after, she turned on her heel, wheeling around to face him, pulling water and holding an ice dagger a few centimeters from his face. Zuko didn’t flinch.

“How dare you.” She said quietly, “you think I wouldn’t tear apart the whole world to find Sokka? Do you think I wouldn’t walk straight into Azula’s throne room if it meant I could save him? I would turn myself over to your father if it meant my brother was free. I would give anything to save him, _anything!”_ her voice rose until she was yelling. Zuko noticed the others had come outside and were standing behind her in shock. This wasn’t about them though.

“Katara- “

“Do you know how much it kills me? I can’t just go into every little village that has seen a boomerang before and flood them until he comes back! I have to be smarter than that. We have to be smarter than that.” Zuko raised his hand and melted the ice, Katara flicked her wrist and the water froze around his hand.

“Listen to me,” He said, Korra began running towards them but her mother grabbed her and pulled her in, “this isn’t just about Sokka, we need Toph too. Someone has to teach Korra earthbending right? Are you going to? Am I? I am trying to be smart here Katara. I know Zhao is a coward and a liar, but I also know that if they were keeping Sokka alive he would know where. I can’t believe you won’t even _consider_ hearing him out!” He swept his hand up again, freeing it from her ice and stepping forward quickly again so he was standing right in front of her. He gently wiped one of the tears off her face. She pushed his hand away,

“What would happen Zuko? Are we supposed to leave her here, open to attack, and follow his lead? What if it’s a trap? What if we walk right into your sister’s trap? She won’t go easy on us this time; she won’t let us win. And if we die trying to save him it will have been for nothing,” Katara was talking so quietly now Zuko doubted the rest could hear her. Her face turned stern, resolute. Zuko knew that there would be no changing her mind.

“We stick to the original plan,” she said finally, “we stick with the avatar.” She looked up and met Zuko’s eyes for a moment and then turned and walked inside, slamming a door behind her. The rest of the crew stood outside, mouths agape. Zuko turned away from them and walked towards one of the overlooks.

As much as he hated to say it, Katara was right, they had to stay with Korra. He also knew how much Katara missed Sokka, how much she worried. He saw her clutching his sword, he saw her crying at night. He knew it was easier for her to think he was dead, easier than facing the truth that he might be alive waiting for them to rescue him, tortured by Zuko’s family. He cursed and punched a fireball into the air in frustration.

“That’s impressive.” A voice said behind him. Zuko turned, blushing. Hakoda was leaning against one of the pillars. Zuko stared at him for a moment, it was scary how similar his kids looked in comparison to their father, he wondered what their mother had looked like.

“I’m sorry you saw that, earlier,” Zuko said. He still felt a little bit uneasy around Hakoda. He wasn’t sure where he stood with the water tribe leader. Hakoda smiled kindly and looked out to the horizon.

“Katara isn’t the only one who would tear the world apart looking for Sokka,” he said, “but she is the only one who might be powerful enough to do it.”

“I know it’s probably a trap but…on the off chance it’s not…” Zuko trailed off, it wasn’t his place to convince Hakoda to rescue his own son. Just like it hadn’t been his place to convince Katara to rescue her own brother, “I know she’s right it just sucks.”

Hakoda laughed, “yes it does suck.” He walked over and sat on one of the broken-down walls, now his eyes were fixed on Zuko.

“I’m sorry.” Zuko wasn’t even sure what he was apologizing for. 

“Katara was so mad at me for so long,” Hakoda said finally, “she felt betrayed and hurt that I left to fight. I shouldn’t have left Sokka in charge. He was just a kid. You all were.”

Zuko didn’t know what to say, that he could relate to feeling Katara’s wrath? It was an entirely different situation. Instead, he just sat on the wall next to her father.

“I think she’s starting to realize now that sometimes… sometimes you have to make difficult choices. She can’t be a selfish kid; she has to save the world.”

“Katara was never selfish,” Zuko said quietly, “everything she did ever was for Aang or Sokka or any number of others.” Hakoda was silent for a long time.

“You know when Sokka told me you had turned good I didn’t believe him. He sounded so proud that you were on our team, but I still wasn’t sure if you could really turn against your family.”

“I don’t have the same family that Katara does.” Zuko said _I don’t have you_ , “when Katara said she would tear apart the world to save her brother, I would tear apart the world to defeat my sister. Every time she sees you or thinks about you, I can tell how much she loves you. The only thing we have in common family wise is that the fire nation took both our mothers.”

“The fire nation took your mother?” Hakoda asked, “does that have something to do with your scar?” He sounded concerned and earnest. Zuko hadn’t talked about his past in years, the last person he had talked to about how much the fire nation hurt him was Katara in the cave’s underground Ba Sing Se. He hated opening up about his past but somehow, he felt himself telling Hakoda everything.

He told Hakoda about his mother standing up for him to Azula, about her playing with him and protecting him. He told Hakoda about the last time he saw his mother and how she left to save him. He told him about the Agni Kai, about his banishment. About Iroh.

Hakoda listened intently and while they were talking the sun went down so by the end of the story, they only had the moon to give them light. After he finished, there was a long silence then Hakoda stood up. For a moment, Zuko thought he was going to walk away, but he stepped forward and pulled Zuko into a tight hug. After a minute of surprise, Zuko felt himself returning the hug, clutching at Hakoda like he had Iroh years ago.

When they pulled away Zuko was crying hot tears. He stepped back and wiped them away, looking down.

“I’m so sorry, Zuko that was so wrong. No one should challenge a child to that type of fight, least of all a father to his son.”

Zuko nodded, worried that if he tried to talk, he would embarrass himself by crying harder. This was a strong fighter, a warrior. And with one hug and some kind words, Zuko was reduced to tears.

They walked back to the main area in silence, Zuko returning to the room he and Katara slept in. She was sitting on her bed in the corner, her knees pulled tightly against her chest. Zuko sat at the other end of the bed.

“You’ve been crying.” She said. It wasn’t a question.

“No,” Zuko lied, turning his face away.

“Don’t lie Zuko I can sense the water on your face.” She had used this line before and to this day Zuko wasn’t sure if that was actually the case or if she was just really astute. Either way, she could always tell.   
“I was just talking to your dad. He’s a great guy.”

“He made you cry?” Katara had been crying too, but Zuko didn’t need to be a water bender to tell. He could see it in her tired eyes, her puffy cheeks.

“No, well, not exactly. It doesn’t matter.” He said, “Katara I’m sorry I shouldn’t have pushed you to look for Sokka. You were right.”

“Yeah, somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.” She said.

“Did you eat anything?” Zuko asked after a beat, Katara shook her head. He returned later with some rice, soup, and tea. They ate in near silence, Zuko stared out the window at the moon. He remembered Sokka telling him that his first girlfriend had turned into the moon and wondered if she was watching over wherever he was. He also wondered if Katara was thinking the same thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hakoda ........ the dilf i've always wanted


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, they sent the fireship back to the fire nation. Senna proved to be very technically handy and was able to help rig it so that the ship flew in the general direction of Azula’s castle, allowing them to keep all the crew locked up. They gave them food and water for a few days and sent the large ship away. Once it was gone, the air temple felt peaceful like it hadn’t in years.

They couldn’t stay though. As comfortable as it was, they had to find somewhere else to hide. Their first thought was another air temple, but Zuko knew that Azula would search all the air temples first after hearing Zhao’s testimony. They also considered the south pole and the north pole, but they couldn’t risk that either. Most of their refugees were in the old earth kingdom. They decided to go back to Ember Island, to Zuko’s old summer home. He was positive no one would be there, no one would go looking for them there. Azula didn’t know they had camped there before so it wouldn’t be on her radar, it was also in the heart of the fire nation. Right under her nose.

It didn’t take too long to sail there, and as they went Katara told Korra stories about her time with Aang, she left out the parts about Zuko attacking them and chasing them. Hakoda listened proudly as she talked about forcing the Northern Water Tribe to teach her bending, fighting pirates, solving King Bumi’s games.

Zuko kept his eyes on the horizon, if they saw something in the distance Katara quickly created a fog cover. Korra also helped, she was from the water tribe so her waterbending was already really strong. Her firebending was good too, Zuko was surprised at how fast she was learning.

They made it to the island and set up camp, falling back into the old routine. Teach Korra firebending, teach Korra waterbending. Send Senna and Tonraq into the village for food. This was harder for them, everywhere they turned Zuko could see remains of when the last avatar gang had been there, the blankets left crumpled by Toph, the shells Sokka used to make his Suki sand sculpture, the picture of Ozai Katara had found right before the comet.

It used to make Zuko a little sad seeing Katara and her father, selfishly sad. He missed Iroh, he missed his mother. Seeing Katara and Hakoda together only reminded him of the family he had lost.

He used this time to clean out the house, the last time they had stayed there it had been with a deadline. Now they were just waiting for Korra to grow up. Hopefully, they could be there indefinitely. The first thing he did was pack up all his family's old fire nation memorabilia and family photos and shove them into a corner of the attic. He should have destroyed them, he wanted to, but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to.

Then he swept and dusted everything, tearing down old curtains and replacing broken fixtures and furniture. It was relaxing for him. The house was so big everyone had a room they could decorate. Senna and Tonraq had gotten jobs in the village to earn money and keep an eye on things. Hakoda spent time in the library, reading old Fire nation war manifestos and studying the history of the royal family. Katara spent most of her time on the beach or at the pier, dangling her feet in the water. Occasionally Zuko or Hakoda would join her, but she was so into her own thoughts most of the time they left her alone.

After begging for months, they finally let Korra go to the village with her parents for a day as a treat for reaching the next step in her bending. Hakoda had heard news of resistance in a village nearby and took Naga to see if there was anything they could help with or anything they needed to avoid. That left Zuko and Katara alone in the house for the day.

Zuko had turned his attention to the kitchen and was finishing reinstalling new cabinets he had made with leftover wood from other projects, they didn’t match but they looked better and worked better than the termite-ridden decrepit ones from before. Katara sat on the counter next to him, reading something and occasionally offering her opinion.

Zuko leaned back after a while and wiped some sweat off his forehead. He threw down the screwdriver and got some water, splashing it on his face. Katara was watching, smirking.

“What’s so funny?” He asked almost accusingly,

“It’s just… I dunno I never thought that I would be living in the fire lords summer home, watching the fire prince rebuild some kitchen cabinets. It’s normal but at the same time really bizarre.” Zuko smiled too,

“Yeah, I never thought this would be my life.”

“You should be fire lord by now. With Mai by your side, rebuilding the world with Aang.”

“My destiny was to help the Avatar. I’m doing that now. Mai is…well she probably isn’t doing so well right now.” Zuko sighed, his ex-girlfriend betrayed Azula at the worst possible time. He hoped she was merely banished, not imprisoned, or worse. Katara was right though, if they had won the war, he would probably have married her. It seemed weird to think about, now the only person in his life was Katara. The only person he could imagine being with.

“Do you think you would have married him?” Zuko asked finally, tightening the door on a cabinet above Katara’s head.

“Maybe. I know he loved me. And I loved him but…there’s no point in dwelling on what could have been.” Katara smiled and reached her hand up, running it through Zuko’s hair and pushing a long strand out of his face and behind his ear. Her hand lingered by his face as their eyes met. He lowered his arms, so they were on either side of her, trapping her on the counter. He became very aware of his heart beating, her heart beating.

They had kissed before, only a few times and only in emotionally charged moments. There was one time they had been fighting some Dai Li agents on a cliff and both of them had fallen. He was able to use fire to slow his fall, she fell into some water, but they didn’t know where the other was. It was five hard nights alone, five hard days looking. Zuko had just about given up hope, surrendered to the idea that he was really truly alone when she broke through the leaves into his camp. They ran into each other’s arms and kissed; it was out of relief that they weren’t dead. Relief they weren’t alone. That’s what he told himself, at least. They had been a little awkward for a few days after that, but it quickly wore off and they never spoke of it again.

Now he wanted to kiss her again, for real this time. No adrenaline or fear of death, a normal kiss between two friends who were so close it was only natural to take it to the next step. He stopped, what would it mean for them? They lived together, worked together, would it make things weird? He didn’t want to ruin the friendship they had if she didn’t feel the same way. He didn’t want to overstep feelings she might still have for Aang.

Also, what business did he have catching feelings, they were in the middle of a war. It wasn’t like they could date normally. Every moment was lived in fear that something would happen or someone else would turn up dead.

Zuko had been so deep in his own spiral of thoughts and concern, he didn’t even notice Katara’s hand had moved to the back of his neck as _she_ pulled _his_ head down. She met his eyes for a second before kissing him gently.

Zuko’s mind went blank. She did want to kiss him. She was still kissing him. He wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her into him and deepening the kiss. He realized that none of his other worries mattered, he loved her and would do whatever she wanted. Just this one kiss in the kitchen was enough for him. If nothing else happened, they had this. He had her.

They made lunch on the beach, cooking some fish Katara caught. They didn’t really make eye contact or talk but Zuko didn’t feel awkward. It felt normal. They leaned against a rock and watched the ocean; his arm was around her and she leaned on his chest. Her hand traced circles in the warm sand as they sat in comfortable silence.

He tried not to stare at her, tried to steady his heartbeat. This was almost perfect, he decided, if they were in any other situation it would be perfect.

Then, all at once, the sky went dark.

A huge war balloon had appeared, covering the sun and descending quickly towards the island. Katara and Zuko leaped up and ran for the nearest cover, hoping they hadn’t been seen. The ship landed in the water offshore with a crash and a wave that doused them with salty water. The plank landed on the sand with a thud and four fire nation army men walked off. They were followed by a royal advisor Zuko recognized from his days at the palace and finally, Azula.

Zuko’s heart leaped into his throat. He hadn’t seen his sister in almost nine years, but it looked like she had aged at least twenty years. Her eyes were wild and tired, her hair had been pulled back but there were loose strands falling out. She walked with a weird gait as if every step hurt. Zuko grabbed Katara’s hand.   
“She looks awful” Katara whispered in shock,

“It’s not easy being fire lord.” Zuko looked around, thankfully they had moored their boat behind some trees. They also kept personal items hidden most of the time, tucked away under the floorboards of the rooms.

“It seems like someone has been here recently.” Azula stared at the fire Zuko and Katara had used to make fish. She looked around like a bloodhound, Zuko crouched further down. Katara gripped his arm,

“We have to turn ourselves in,” she whispered,

“That’s good, get all the bad ideas out in the open,” Zuko responded dryly. Katara didn’t listen, she ripped off part of her white skirt and grabbed a stick. “Burn the edge of this stick, I need to leave a note.” She held it up.

“You can’t be serious,”

“Shut up there’s no time. We have to protect Korra, if we leave with her Azula won’t know she’s here and she will be safe.” Katara pleaded, Zuko realized with horror she was right. Their best bet was to turn themselves in. He burned the stick enough for the ash to work as a makeshift pen, it wasn’t easy to write with, but it was legible enough.

Zuko watched Azula make her way into the house as Katara took off her mother’s necklace, wrapping the note around it and putting it on the rock they were hiding behind. Open enough for her father to see, hidden enough for Azula to miss.

She looked at Zuko one more time and they both nodded resolutely, this wasn’t going to be fun, but they had to protect the Avatar.

Azula made it to the front door and was about to open it when they both stood up together. Katara quickly brought the ocean to the front door, dousing Azula as Zuko threw fire at the guards.

Azula and her security reacted quickly, and within moments Zuko and Katara were in handcuffs. This time, they wouldn’t be able to escape as easily. They were pinned to the ground, the sand getting into Zuko’s eyes. He couldn’t see Katara but could hear her struggling.

“Well, well, well.” Azula’s voice came from above, “what are the odds I come for a retreat and I find my dear, dear older brother and his little friend. Won’t father be happy, I told him I wanted to hunt you down and kill you brother dearest but alas, I think father has other plans for you.”

“What plans?” Zuko couldn’t help but ask. Azula smiled wickedly as they were dragged to their feet and pushed onto the ship. Once inside, Azula had the guards knock Zuko and Katara unconscious so they couldn’t escape on the trip back home.


	7. Chapter 7

Zuko woke up in chains, alone. He was on his knees, his hands and feet were bound in metal balls and his neck chained to the ground so he couldn’t stand, couldn’t bend. He could barely look up to see that he was in an iron cage. He couldn’t see much; the cage was covered in a cloth maybe. He tried to shout out, but his throat was so dry the words got caught. The air was hot and dry, a classic Fire nation cell. He was hungry and thirsty and there was no way to tell how long he had been asleep.

The cage lurched and started moving, Zuko almost fell but the chains kept him in place. After a few minutes, the movement stopped, and the cloth was ripped off. The room wasn’t super bright, so it didn’t take Zuko’s eyes too long to adjust. He was in the fire nation throne room at the foot of the Fire Lord.

Azula was sitting on the throne, surrounded by blue flames. She looked like a ghost, her skin almost translucent and her eyes hollow. She grinned at the sight of him which only looked creepier.

“Ah Zuzu, so nice of you to return home after all these years.” She said. Zuko couldn’t have responded if he had wanted to. Azula stood up and jumped over the flames, landing right in front of the cage.

“I wanted to talk to you before the big event big brother.” Azula said, “I wanted to rub in your face one. More. Time: You lost,” She knelt down so she was at eye level with him, “I will show her how great I can truly be. Father, mother, they will all see.” _Mother?_

“What are you talking about?” Zuko managed, his voice horse and quiet.

“I couldn’t hear you brother dearest but no matter, once father sees what I have planned he will finally be proud of me,” Azula stood up and began pacing, Zuko couldn’t turn his head enough to follow her and he didn’t want to, “before well… I wanted to go through with it but it was too risky. You and your stupid water girlfriend were still out there somewhere, I couldn’t risk anything going wrong. Now though, now I have the full set. She will finally SHUT UP!” Azula screamed the last words and the flames around her throne erupted ten, twenty feet tall. Zuko had no idea what she was talking about, but he hated every word. She knelt back down and reached a hand through the cage to push the hair out of his eye, uncovering his scar.

“It didn’t have to be like this,” she said gently, “you could have been fire lord. It is your birthright after all. We could have celebrated the avatar's death together. But you chose to be a traitor, you chose to lose, and tomorrow you will see what a mistake that truly was.”

Azula stood up and returned to her throne, “Get him out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow Zuzu.”

The cloth fell back over the cage and Zuko was carted away.

Sometime later someone brought food and water, they didn’t undo his chains, so he had to be fed by the guards, he wondered if he knew who was behind the mask. He wondered if they felt pride in seeing the fallen prince finally meet his bitter end.

The next morning, or at least he assumed the next morning, the cart was carted away. This time they traveled for a while, almost an hour before he felt the cage being lifted up into the air. He couldn’t see what was happening, but he could hear a crowd below. Azula was giving a speech.

“Today, on the anniversary of the end of the war,” she paused for a cheer, “the Supreme Phoenix Kings Ascension to power,” another cheer, “the Avatars death,” the biggest cheer, “I have finally vanquished the last of the resistance. The Avatars friends have fallen, one by one, into my hands and now I give them to you! People of the fire nation! As an example of what happens when you defy the fire nation!”

There was a thunderous cheer and Zuko heard cloth falling on either side of him until finally his own cage was uncovered. This time he was in broad daylight and it took a while for his eyes to adjust. The first thing he noticed was the crowd, about thirty feet below him stood thousands of fire nation civilians cheering and holding up signs praising Azula.

The second thing he noticed was he was not alone, his cage was one of five dangling in the air. Directly next to him on one side was Katara, chained similarly to him. Her clothes were dirty and torn and her hair fell in her eyes. She was squinting too, trying to figure out what was going on. The cage next to her was wooden, in it was a small girl with long black hair hanging in her eyes, she was tied down too but with leather restraints instead of metal. _Toph,_ Zuko realized quickly what Azula meant last night, _The full set_. He looked to his other side and sure enough, Sokka and Suki were chained up too. They looked emaciated, uncut hair falling in their faces. Zuko could see Sokka’s ribs through the tears in his clothes. They all looked half-dead, not even bothering to look around.

Relief filled Zuko, his friends were alive! He almost smiled before he remembered where they were. He saw Katara had also noticed her brother, her eyes filled with tears and she screamed his name, but it got lost in the crowd.

“They will remain here for the next two days before I begin my victory tour of the kingdom. I will bring the traitors with me as an example to every village in the world, everyone shall see their faces and know what failure looks like.” Azula continued, “today though I start by giving them to you- the people of my own hometown. Look! Mock! Do whatever you will to my dear prisoners. And your eyes do not deceive you,” Zuko still wasn’t sure where she was standing but her voice surrounded him, “There in the middle is your own prince. Disgraced, defeated. My brother Zuko”

At that, Sokka and Suki finally looked at him, their eyes widening. Sokka’s eyes met Katara’s and Zuko could almost feel the pain between them. He wished he could move his cage, so she was closer to her brother. It was excruciating to be so close to his friends but utterly powerless. He wanted to shout that the Avatar was back, there was hope for them, and yet they were still weak and tired and trapped.

They truly had lost.

Azula’s Victory Tour went through most of the big cities of the New Fire Nation, throughout Zuko could see the people he and Katara had freed from General Zhao’s prison ship staring at them with pain and desperation. He silently pleaded for them to do nothing; it would only end up worse if they did. Azula gave the same speech every time, their cages were hoisted into the air and left to dangle for the day before being packed up and moved to the next place. They couldn’t talk to each other, couldn’t communicate. They could only exchange a desperate glance, Toph didn’t even know Katara was there probably, they kept her deep in wood and leather so she couldn’t metal bend.

As bad as this trip was, at least they could see each other occasionally. Zuko wasn’t looking forward to whatever his sister had planned for when they returned home.

After maybe a month of travel, the cages were uncovered in the town square in Ember Island. As Zuko scanned the crowd his heart plummeted when his eyes landed on Hakoda, Korra, and her parents. He could hear Sokka’s choked cry when he saw his father, the first thing he had heard from the cage next to him. Hakoda took a quick step forward before Tonraq stopped him. Korra looked at them, her eyes filled with tears. Zuko couldn’t bear to keep eye contact.

“They will remain here for the next day-“ Azula was saying, this time she was standing in front of the cages which were only ten feet in the air. It was a smaller city, a smaller audience. Korra pushed her parent's hands off her and ran into the crowd pushing her way to the front and tripping, falling on her face just below their cages. She stared up, sobbing. Azula stopped her speech and leaped off the table she had been standing on, peering down at the child.

_No….god….. don’t do anything! Don’t let anyone find out!_ Zuko pleaded with his mind, he glanced at Katara whose eyes were fixed on Korra, no doubt thinking the same thing.

“Let them go!” Korra shrieked, the crowd went silent. Zuko could hear the chains creaking as the cage swayed gently in the breeze. Azula stared in shock for a moment before she began laughing,

“Oh, you poor child. Be careful, Zuko was a traitor and look at him now.”

“No.” Korra said, quietly this time, “Zuko is a friend.”

“A friend?” Azula looked up at him incredulously. Zuko prayed Korra would shut up, Hakoda reached her in the crowd and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her into him and trying to bring her back to her parents.

“I apologize Fire Lord; she doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Hakoda said.

“I see my mother’s treachery has infiltrated even the happiest village,” Azula muttered, she reached out like a viper, grabbing Korra’s arm with her hand and dragging her away from Hakoda. Korra screamed as Azula forced her onto the table, showing her off to the silent crowd.

“This child still believes in the lies being spread by the avatars friends! Look at her! Your people have brainwashed children too young to remember what it was like before we won the war. She grew up in the beautiful nation my father and I created for her and she still remains ungrateful.”

“Your wrong,” Korra said stubbornly, Zuko wasn’t sure if his mind was playing tricks or not but it looked like the air around her began to swirl.

“Wrong? Me?” Azula tightened her grip on Korra’s arm.   
“I didn’t grow up here,” there was a roar from behind them, Zuko couldn’t see but it sounded like a huge wave. Korra yanked her arm free and rose in the air, her hair swirling around her. Her eyes began to glow white and out of nowhere, a massive tsunami hit the village. The chains holding the cages up broke and the five of them floated away on the wave, being pulled back into the ocean behind them.

Azula spluttered in surprise, unable to find footing to stand on. The water swirled around Korra, holding her up. Zuko’s cage dipped underwater and he barely had time to take a breath before the cage was spinning underwater, he wasn’t sure which way was up, completely at the mercy of Korra’s wave.

Eventually, the waters drained away and he stopped, upside down, in the sand. He was stuck to the bottom of the cage which had now become the top. He looked around, disoriented. There was still nothing he could do. He screamed in frustration and a weak poof of fire came out of his mouth. He looked around and saw Toph’s cage close by on its side. He wondered if he could burn the wood enough for her to escape before it killed her.

“Toph!” He yelled; she was barely stirring, “Toph can you hear me!?” She groaned,

“Flame boy?” She called out weakly, her voice was deeper now that she was older.

“Toph if I light your cage on fire can you escape? I don’t want to burn you.” He shouted. Toph took a moment, no doubt trying to figure out her surroundings.

“I can do better than that.” She said, then she cried out and the sand on the beach erupted, forming disks of spinning earth and cutting through the leather and wood of her cage with ease. Once out, she took a moment to stand up and reorient herself before opening the binds holding Zuko to the cage, causing him to fall with a loud thud.

“You couldn’t have been gentler?” He asked, standing for only a moment before Toph tackled him to the ground, hugging him tightly. He smiled, hugging her back. She had grown over the past years, not a kid anymore. She was bony, and felt fragile like if he hugged her too tight he would break her.

“I can’t believe you’re alive!” She said, with a shock he realized she was crying.

“Ok, ok, I’m happy you’re back too! But we have to go help the others,” He looked back to the village that was covered in water and blue flames.


	8. Chapter 8

On their way back, the two of them passed villagers spluttering in the water. It didn’t look like anyone was in immediate danger, so they kept going. Zuko knew his priority should have been to save Korra but was ashamed to admit all he really cared about was Katara.

They made it back to the village and saw that only he and Toph’s chains had broken, Katara, Sokka, and Suki were still dangling, watching in horror at what was unfolding underneath.

“Toph, free the others!” Zuko called out, “above you!” Toph nodded and he left to find Korra and his sister. Korra had come out of the avatar state and was unconscious on top of a roof, Zuko sprinted towards her but was cut off by a wall of blue flame. Azula landed in front of him, her hair undone, her eyes were no longer the same amber color as his, they were black with madness.

“Why…can’t…. she love me?” Azula said through clenched teeth.

“What are you talking about?” Zuko figured if he could distract Azula the others could rescue Korra and run away.

“Mother. I tried, I tried so hard, but she keeps turning people against me, no matter where I turn there she is, shaking her head with disappointment.” Azula wasn’t even looking at Zuko, she was looking past him. He glanced behind but no one was there, “do you know what it’s like to have a parent hate you? To never be enough?”

“No idea,” Zuko said dryly, he felt almost sorry for Azula. Clearly, she was mad, unstable. Hopefully, that meant she was weak, probably though it just meant she wouldn’t have any restraint.

Seemingly out of nowhere, water whipped around, flipping Azula onto her back. Katara was standing behind her, readying herself for another attack. Azula was back on her feet and whipped around, dodging Katara’s attack. Zuko tried to hit Azula with flames but with a kick, she extinguished his fire. The three of them stood in a line, Katara and Zuko on either side of Azula. She looked frantically between them then smiled wickedly.

“You know, Zuko, it turns out when a nation is not at war there is time for innovation and scientific advancements,” Azula said, facing Katara. She took a few steps forward, locking eyes with the waterbender, “for example did you know that water _loves_ lightning?" 

What happened next felt like it was happening in slow motion.

Katara began to gather the water around them, forming first a puddle around her and Azula that she began to freeze.

Before that could happen though, Azula pointed down and shot a bolt of lightning into the puddle.

There was an astonishing CRACK in the air as the lightning struck, the puddle of water exploded sending Azula and Katara flying backward. Azula flipped and landed gracefully on her feet behind Zuko.

Katara’s body was limp as it slammed into a pillar, cracking the wood, and she hit the ground. Lifeless. Zuko felt like the air had been pushed out of his lungs. He reared around to face Azula; he could barely see his eyes were clouded by rage.

Flames burst out of his hands and mouth as he screamed at Azula, this time, the flames were blue like hers. Hot and powered by the madness and rage that must drive his sister.

Zuko acted without thinking, punching flames towards her and effortlessly dodging the ones she sent back, _Katara_. The siblings punched at the same time, their flames hitting in an explosion of color. Zuko fell back, hitting the ground jarred him out of his rage enough to notice his friends calling to him.

Toph stomped the ground and Azula sank as if eaten alive, only her head was visible as she screamed flames at Zuko.

Hands were grabbing his arms and dragging him to his feet, pulling him away from the fight and towards the beach.

“Katara,” he said, trying to break away from whoever was holding him.

“We have her, we have to go.” He realized it was Sokka supporting him, Sokka talking to him. Zuko clutched tighter to his friend as they hobbled down to the rest of the group on the beach.

Hakoda was holding Katara’s limp body, she looked so small in her father’s arms. He brought her below deck and reemerged to grab Korra out of Suki’s arms. Senna and Tonraq were busy packing up the emergency supplies from the house, just like they had talked about months ago when they first arrived at Ember Island.

Sokka helped Zuko into the boat and they both fell down on the top deck.

“Where do we go?” Sokka asked Zuko like he should have any idea.

“It doesn’t matter, just away from here,” Suki said, pointing to something Zuko couldn’t see. He assumed it was his sister or her guards. Naga leaped onto the boat, her force pushing it out into the open water and Hakoda and Senna began navigating. Zuko managed to stand up and made his way downstairs. Tonraq was laying pillows and blankets over Korra and Katara.

Zuko collapsed by Katara’s side, “Is she…will she...”

“She’s alive,” Tonraq said, “I don’t know what I can do for her right now though- what happened to her?”

“My sister did something to the water, she electrified her.”

“What? How?” Zuko didn’t hear Tonraq’s question, all he could hear was the blood pounding in his head, all he could see was Katara’s face, her brow was furrowed like she was mid grimace. He reached up and gently smoothed her forehead, pushing hair out of her face.

Sokka, Toph, and Suki made their way below deck. Zuko stepped aside so Sokka could be next to Katara, he grabbed her hand and began to cry bitterly, Suki’s hand was on his shoulder but Zuko knew it couldn’t have brought that much comfort.

“Is…what’s going on?” Toph asked quietly.

“Katara is unconscious,” Zuko said simply. Then he turned his attention to Korra who was beginning to stir. She opened her eyes and Tonraq pulled the child into a tight hug.

“Oh thank the stars, thank the stars you are okay!” He said, Korra pushed herself away and looked up at faces in the room when she saw Zuko she smiled and hugged him.

“You’re back!” She said, Zuko nodded and ruffled her hair.

“We said we’d come back for you, didn’t we? Sifu Zuko keeps his promises.” Korra’s smile fell as she saw Katara.

“What…did I do that?” she began to panic.

“No, Korra you saved us,” Zuko tried not to think of the implications- tried not to think about how Azula probably knew she was the avatar, “you are more powerful than I thought kid.”

“I did? I don’t even know what happened,” Korra looked at her hands like they were foreign.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You need to rest now little one,” Tonraq said, “both of them need to rest.” He ushered the group out of the room, leaving Korra and Katara to sleep peacefully. Once above deck Sokka grabbed Zuko’s arm and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“We thought you were gone.” 

“So did we.” Suki hugged him too, Toph punched his arm. Any happiness he felt at being reunited with his friends was overshadowed by the concern he felt for Katara. Hakoda and Senna set a trail and Senna went below to see how Korra was doing.

Zuko must have missed Hakoda and Sokka’s reunion because the water tribe chief went straight up and grabbed Zuko in yet another hug. Four hugs in one hour were way more than Zuko was used to but he wasn’t going to complain.

“We were so worried when you two vanished,” he said, “what happened?”

“There’s plenty of time for that later, first we need to find a healer,” Zuko said, a little sad when Hakoda pulled away, “The only times I’ve seen people come back from lightning strikes is when a powerful waterbender healed them.”

“The north pole,” Sokka said, “they have the best healers. It shouldn’t take more than two days if we sail past the western air temple.”

Once the course was set, Tonraq and Senna made dinner and they all sat in a circle, watching the sunset over the horizon. No one really said anything, there was too much time lost. Too much to catch up on. Zuko kept thinking about Katara, he knew it was irrational, but he hoped that being on the water could somehow help her. He prayed to every spirit he knew about, he prayed to the previous Avatars, his uncle, his mother. He hoped someone would hear and help keep her alive.

“Wait a minute…” Toph interrupted his thoughts, “where is Aang?”

  
Zuko and Hakoda shared a glance as Sokka and Suki nodded in agreement with the question. No one said anything for a while, long enough for them to know the answer before Zuko said it.

“Aang didn’t make it.” He said flatly.

“That’s impossible, he must have just escaped! He’s probably hiding somewhere! Maybe he’s in another iceberg somewhere!” Sokka said, “there’s no way he…no way he died.”

“Sokka didn’t you see what Korra did back there?” 

“No…well she made a huge wave come. She must be a powerful waterbender.” He said, thinking. Suki gasped a little as she put the pieces together.

“She’s not just a waterbender is she?” Suki almost whispered. Zuko shook his head.

“She’s the avatar.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the whiplash this chapter kinda goes all over. Zuko did need 2 feel some things tho so here we are.

Zuko was dreaming. He was sitting on a grassy cliff overlooking Ba Sing Se.

The city was on fire, the plumes of smoke obscuring the view of the massive city, Zuko could see the haze from the smoke but from where he sat the air was clean and fresh, a gentle breeze blew his hair. He tried to stand up but his limbs wouldn’t move, he knew people in the city were hurting but he sat there, stuck in the calm.

“You could have saved her.” A voice next to him, one he hadn’t thought about in years. Zuko’s head turned and Aang was sitting beside him. The previous avatar looked just as he had the first day Zuko saw him in the Southern Water Tribe. 12 years old, fresh from the ice. He wore the red and yellow of the air nomads, his old red staff was resting beside him. Momo was perched on his shoulder.

Aang wasn’t looking at Zuko though, he too was looking at Ba Sing Se. “I… the city would have fallen no matter what. Azula got the Dai Li on her-“

“I don’t mean the city.” Aang’s voice was quiet but there was a danger in his tone, a severity much too harsh for a twelve-year-old.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Zuko admitted, “I’m doing my best.”

“YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HER” Aang didn’t move but his voice was deafening, it was not just his voice but the voices of every avatar before him. His arrows began to glow. Zuko realized who Aang was talking about. He turned to kneel in front of Aang, pressing his forehead into the ground.

“I’m sorry! I let you down, I let you all down!” The air around Zuko began to spin as Aang rose above him in a sphere of air. The other elements began orbiting too, like rings on a planet. Zuko stood up and tried to back away but he ran into something- no- someone. Katara was standing behind him, her skin scorched, and her hair fried. She pushed him back to face Aang.

Below Aang, someone else walked up, his mother.

“YOU DIDN’T SAVE ANY OF THEM!” Aang continued, Zuko fell to the ground, sobbing. Waiting for Aang to smite him, go full avatar and obliterate him where he lay. It would be better that way; he would finally stop failing.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE HELPED ME!” With that final shout, Aang focused all his power towards Zuko and a glorious beam of lightning came from the avatar's hand. Zuko woke up with a shout.

His chest was heaving, he was drenched in sweat that had begun sizzling and evaporating off his body. He was crying. Zuko tried to calm his breaths, tried to focus on where he was, he could see but wasn’t processing anything. He was on the ground, the ground was cold.

He pressed his hands to his eyes, trying to shake himself back to reality. He didn’t notice the person kneeling in front of him, didn’t notice the gentle arms that pulled him into a hug. He clung to whoever it was for dear life, his hands scrunching their warm cloak. He tried to focus his breathing; the person smelt like fresh snow.   
He wasn’t sure how long he sat there trying to calm down before finally his breathing calmed and he was able to pull back, suddenly ashamed at the display of emotions.

The person hugging him was Sokka.

“Hey, are you okay?” Sokka’s brow was furrowed with concern. Zuko looked around, they were on the floor of one of the ice huts in the North Pole. There were a few pillows and some mats on the floor that they had been sitting on. In the middle of the room was a cot and on that cot was Katara, fast asleep.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just a bad dream.” Zuko rubbed his eyes once more, trying to erase the image of Aang.

“I would say, you got so hot for a minute I was worried the whole room would melt.” As if it had been conspiring with Sokka when he spoke a drip of water fell from the ceiling and square onto Zuko’s forehead. He brushed it off and stood up, adjusting the blue outfit they had given him when they arrived at the North Pole. The warm fur was plastered to his skin, he was sweating and shivering at the same time.

“Has she changed at all?” Zuko asked, focusing back on Katara. She looked as peaceful as if she was sleeping. Not at all the wreck she had been in his dream.

“No.” Sokka sighed and sat back on one of the cushions, pulling his knees to his chest. They had been at the water tribe for a week and Sokka had already begun to regain the weight he had lost in prison. He still had dark circles and a hollowed face, nothing like the fresh, ready for battle sixteen-year-old Zuko had known before Aang died. The man before him had seen battle and didn’t look like he was eager to return.

The cloth door of the room was shoved back and Hakoda and one of the water tribe healers rushed in.

“What happened? We heard a shout is everyone okay?” Hakoda asked. The healer, an old man who treated Katara with care but didn’t seem to like Zuko very much, rushed to her side.

“Nothing happened, I had a bad dream.” Zuko blushed a little, he liked impressing Hakoda and he doubted that the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe had nightmares like he did.

“Are you okay?” Hakoda’s brow knit with concern, an almost mirror image of his son moments ago. Zuko nodded.

The healer pushed Zuko and Sokka out of the room, saying they were not responsible enough to be by Katara’s side and anyone other than Hakoda and the healers were not allowed in the room anymore.

“I’m her brother!” Sokka protested,

“I don’t care!” The healer replied, and although he was little more than half Zuko or Sokka’s height he still pushed the boys into the hallway. They stood there for a moment in shock before sharing a weary smile.

“I’m gonna go find Suki; you should get some real rest.” Sokka patted Zuko on the back and left, leaving Zuko alone in the hallway.

Zuko felt uncomfortable staying with the water tribe. The North Pole had changed since his last visit. After numerous attacks from the fire nation, the water tribe had moved entirely underground, creating a winding labyrinth of ice and snow that they lived in like a colony of ants. Only the spirit pool and a statue of the old princess remained above ground.

Zuko went back to his room and changed, rinsing his face off and tying his hair back in a low ponytail. He accidentally caught his reflection in the mirror, the red of his scar was even more noticeable against the blue hue of the underground ice castle, against the blue of his clothes. It was like a stain, marking him as an outsider.

Zuko left the room, wandering around aimlessly. He didn’t want to sleep again. He didn’t really want to talk to anyone. He wanted to go back and sit with Katara, but he worried the healer would kick him out.

He made his way above ground, there were staircases hidden in piles of snow that lead above ground, hidden in a way that you had to be looking for them. When they first arrived, it took them an embarrassing amount of time to find the entrance.

The princess statue, Yue according to the plaque, stood tall and proud. Zuko vaguely remembered seeing the real princess the first time he was at the north pole, back when his sole purpose was to hunt the avatar and restore his honor.

He dug his boots into the ground, whatever Princess Yue had done it was probably more than he had. Dream-Aang was right, he should have saved Katara. He should have saved his mother. Dream-Aang was right to kill him. Zuko kicked a pile of snow, not quite sure what emotion drove that move, it flew up and landed in a flurry.

“Sifu Hotman?”

Zuko whipped around, Korra was standing there looking like she had seen something she shouldn’t have. He forced himself to relax, forced a smile for the child.

“Who told you to call me that?” He asked, his voice was stern, but the smile betrayed him. Korra pressed her lips together and shook her head, it was a secret. “Sokka?” she shook her head, “Suki?” she shook her head again, “ah so it must have been Toph right?” once again, Korra shook her head. Zuko's eyes narrowed, there was no one else to teach her that, “Well anyway, we should go inside, it’s not safe out here.”

The two of them walked inside, Korra sneaking glances at him. Zuko had never hung out with kids much and sometimes he wasn’t quite sure how to interact with Korra.

“Can we practice firebending?” She asked, tugging on his sleeve and dragging him to the main training room. It was built for waterbenders, there were pools of water in the room and the walls were lined with water tribe weapons.

  
“It’s kind of hard to firebend here, it’s easier to practice waterbending don’t you think? There are plenty of waterbenders around to practice with.” Korra groaned,

“But I don’t _want_ to practice waterbending,” whined, “I want to play with _fire_!” to emphasize her point, Korra pointed at one of the ice bear head sculptures that surrounded the room, a hot flame coming out of her hand and melting it.

“Fire isn’t something you play with,” Zuko looked around, “I’ll tell you what, let’s try something new today.”

Korra leaped to position, rushing to the other side of the room so she could face him.

“I’m going to fight with fire, you use water to fight back. Remember how in waterbending Katara taught you that you should take what people throw at you and throw it back?”

Back when it was just Zuko and Katara training the new avatar they had taken old methods from the different bending forms and simplified them for the child. In waterbending, defense becomes offense. That's also how to redirect lightning, but Zuko didn't want to think about the innocent child having to deal with that.

“Yeah!” Katara said, bracing herself. Zuko started gently, not throwing anything at her that would hurt too much if it actually hit her. It was like he was throwing a ball for her, she caught it with water and threw the water back at him. It was less fighting and more playing catch. It was repetitive and easy and despite himself, Zuko had fun.

After a while Korra began to giggle and instead of ‘catching’ his fire and throwing it back to him, she just began lobbing bigger and bigger snowballs at him. Zuko too gave up on using fire and, using his hands, began throwing snow back at her.

He was bad at throwing snowballs and Korra was a waterbender, so he ended up much colder in the end. They fell into a pile of snow, laughing. 

“That was pretty fun,” Zuko said, “I can’t believe I never thought about throwing snow like that.”

“Have you never had a _snowball fight_ before?” the incredulity in the child’s voice was thick, she asked the question the same way Uncle would ask people if they’ve ever had tea before.

“It has a name?” Zuko asked. Korra leaped back up again, fueled by the endless energy of youth.

“Duh! It’s called a snowball fight. You fight with snowballs, we used to play with my friends at home before mom and dad made us leave.”

“There wasn’t snow where I grew up,” Zuko said, _and not many friends, either._

“Did you play other games?” Korra sat back in the snow.

“Um, well, I didn’t really play games as a kid,” Zuko felt bad, for letting her down, “I mostly fed the turtle ducks with my mother.”

“Boooorrinngggggg,” Korra teased, standing back up abruptly, declaring she was hungry, and leading Zuko to the mess hall.

The only time it was really clear how many people lived in the caverns was during meals, there had to be almost two hundred people would flood out of the halls and to the big wooden tables. Zuko ate with Korra and her family, ignoring glances from Sokka and Suki. Sokka had no doubt told her about his dream earlier. Toph sat next to Suki, her expression blank. She hated the ice palace, she couldn’t see with her feet on the ice because it was water, and it was too cold to go barefoot anyways. She had to wear boots that clearly made her uncomfortable. Some of the water tribe people had offered her a long stick to use so she wouldn’t run into things, but Toph refused. She claimed that she had mastered metal bending so she could figure out the ice too. It was a slow process.

After dinner, Zuko had plans to just try and fall asleep but before he could make it to his room Sokka and Suki each had him by an arm and were dragging him up to the top.

“What are you- “

“Shut up! We are going to show you something,” Suki smiled mischievously. They made it to the top but rather than head towards the water or their boat, the couple dragged Zuko further into the cold abyss.

“We discovered this yesterday, it’s really something,” Sokka said, finally releasing Zuko’s arm when he could trust Zuko wasn’t going to bolt. They walked for twenty or so minutes before Sokka stopped abruptly, “here.” He looked up at the sky. 

Zuko followed his gaze, there were more stars in the North Pole than Zuko was used to seeing. Staring up at them always made him feel so small. He had heard somewhere that the stars were the deceased looking down, watching over. Aang must be up there, and Lu Ten, Zuko wondered if his Uncle or mother were up there watching over him. He hoped not.

“Sokka the stars are really nice but I don’t-“Zuko’s complaint was cut short.

The sky was suddenly lit up, green and purple, and blue lights danced across the sky causing the white snow to glow with color. It was like a rainbow was forming in front of his eyes, the light forming and unforming. The colors changed, green and orange and pink lights flew across the night like ribbons. It reminded Zuko of the rainbow fire the dragons at the sun palace had granted him and Aang. It left him speechless. 

Next to him, Suki laughed at his face, “That’s exactly how we looked. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“It's…what is it?”

“I’m calling it- ‘The Lights of the North’,” Sokka said proudly, putting his arm around Suki.

“But what is it?”

“Lights, in the north. I don’t know, maybe it’s some spirit world stuff.”

“Just enjoy it Zuko,” Suki said, playfully pushing him, “don’t think too hard.”

They sat watching The Lights of the North for some time before making their way back inside. On the way back, Sokka stopped in front of the statue of the princess, saying a prayer.

“Do you know who that is?” Zuko asked.

“Yue,” Suki responded as if that should clear things up.

“Yeah but…who is she to Sokka?”

“Remember when I told you about my first girlfriend, the one who turned into the moon?” Sokka smiled and rejoined them as they walked downstairs, “that’s her.”

“She was the princess? Was I there for that?” Zuko racked his brain but huge pieces of the puzzle eluded him.

“You were busy getting your butt kicked by my sister I think.” They returned to the mess hall, now empty and quiet, for a hot cup of tea. 

“She didn’t kick my butt!” Zuko protested, “I put up a good fight.”

“Dude, she destroyed you,” Sokka turned to Suki, “so there we were, trying to get away, Zuko shows up. He had really bad hair back then like,” Sokka grabbed Zuko’s hair and held it in a high ponytail, “picture this, but everything else is bald.” - Suki laughed as Zuko shoved Sokka away - “Anyways, there he stands, and he says, ‘come back for a rematch?’ or something equally lame, and Katara she is standing there too, and she says, ‘trust me Zuko, it won’t be much of a rematch.’” Sokka was standing on the table now, his voice carrying throughout the empty hall.

“That’s not what happened!” Zuko protested,

“Shut up let me finish! So, after she says that, Zuko tried to firebend at her but before the puny, weak flame even left his hand Katara trapped him in a tower of ice two hundred feet tall, then SLAMMED Him into the ground.” Sokka jumped off the table, slamming his hands on the wood between Zuko and Suki, causing both of them to jump. “I thought he was dead.”

“You make me sound so pathetic!” Zuko shoved Sokka away, “and it wasn’t that bad!”

“Why did you try and fight a master waterbender on a piece of ice in the middle of the water?” Suki was laughing, Sokka beaming in the glow of the attention,

“I didn’t _know_ she was a master! She wasn’t that good before.”

“She was _always_ that good.” A voice said. Katara was standing by the door, leaning heavily on Hakoda. 

“Katara!” Sokka leaped up and raced over, Zuko and Suki close behind.

“Be gentle with her, she just woke up,” Hakoda lead Katara to a nearby table.

“Dad I’m fine,” Katara smiled, she looked weak, but she was alive. Zuko felt like the entire city of Ba Sing Se had been lifted off his shoulders. Sokka sat next to her protectively.

“Katara I’m so glad you’re awake!” Suki said, “we were so worried.”

“What happened? Where is Toph? Where is Korra?”

“Everyone is fine, Toph doesn’t like it here so she stays in the lower levels closer to the ground. Korra is probably asleep.” Sokka reassured her. Katara threw her arms around him again, Zuko remembered that this is the first time the siblings have been properly reunited since before Aang died.

“I missed you so much,” she said, Sokka said something Zuko couldn’t hear. He grabbed Suki and the two of them got tea for everyone, giving the siblings some privacy to reunite.


	10. Chapter 10

Zuko had been in plenty of torturous war meetings. He was, quite literally, raised to go to meetings like that. The meeting he found himself in at the North Pole though was something entirely new.

They met in the big mess hall everyone scattered around three large tables pushed together. It was much less informal than the meetings he had gone to as a child, where everyone had a special seat around the big map of the world.

In fire nation meetings they had small wooden figures representing forces and people. In the north pole, there was a small map on the table, the corners held down with a bowl of rice, a rock, a cloth doll, and an empty bottle that used to hold alcohol. The figurines they used were just as arbitrary, a pen, some coins, someone had tossed in an earring.

Zuko sat next to Sokka at the table, Zuko seated at the end. Suki sat opposite Sokka, Katara next to her. Hakoda, Tonraq, Senna, and a few more members of the water tribe Zuko didn’t recognize sat further down. Toph had refused to attend the meeting, saying she would just go along with whatever.

The meeting wasn’t tedious because of the makeshift war room or the fact that children were playing a card game a few tables over, occasionally breaking out into a loud fight, Zuko even was okay with the fact that every ten minutes they had to stop to find another random piece of crap to use as a marker on the table.

The reason the meeting was tedious was seated directly across from Zuko and his name was Han. He was commander of the Northern Water Tribe and probably about Zuko’s age. He had a soft face and every time he spoke it was clear his experience with war didn’t extend beyond defending the Northern Water Tribe. He and Sokka had a history too, Zuko wasn’t sure what it was but it was clear they hated each other. 

Zuko had spaced out, not really listening to what someone further down the table was talking about. He was watching the children play their game, silently wishing he was with them.

“—therefore, it’s safest if everyone remains here. We are safe from the war here; the fire nation cannot find us.” The person who had been speaking, an old man with a long thin beard, concluded.

“We cannot keep hiding from the fire nation,” Hakoda said, “we have to make a stand.”

“A stand will result in everyone’s death!” Master thin beard said, “haven’t these children suffered enough?” Zuko realized he was one of the ‘children’ in question.

“The fire nation will find us here, do not underestimate their power,” Sokka said. Zuko knew Sokka was a plans guy, a natural leader, but it was really showing in this meeting. Were he fire lord, Zuko would have been proud to have an advisor half as good as Sokka.

“Why hide from a war we could win right now?” Han slammed his hand on the table, far more aggressively than was probably necessary, “we have the avatar. She can already go into the avatar state, train her in the other elements, and have her fight the Fire Lord!” Zuko glanced down the table, Tonraq clutched his wife’s hand tightly.

Han continued, “Aang’s mistake was he tried to fight the Fire Lord during Sozin’s comet! If he had simply waited maybe he would- “

“Okay!” Sokka interrupted loudly, “thank you so much for your suggestion! I’m going to file it away really quick with all the other terrible suggestions being thrown out at this meeting—" Sokka mimed pulling out a drawer and putting something inside, “oh wait, looks like all of them are yours? That’s kinda weird.”

Han’s face was bright red, his mouth agape in shock, “We have the element of surprise! Do you really think the Fire Lord would kill a child?”

“What do you think Aang was?” Sokka asked.

“Aang’s reputation preceded him- “

“He was still a CHILD!!”

“Technically wasn’t he 112 years old? That’s hardly a child. Besides, Aang was weak, he was too peaceful, he wouldn’t have done what had to be done,” Han continued, “the only way this war will end is with The Fire Lord’s death.”

Zuko was still watching Korra’s parents, any hope had drained from their faces. He didn’t notice members of the council were eyeing him.

“Aang wasn’t weak,” Katara said softly, “Aang didn’t even eat meat. He wanted peace but knew that he couldn’t sacrifice his values. Aang was the strongest person I’ve ever met.” She was still weak but was able to walk on her own for short distances and seemed to be eating more. Zuko still hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to her alone and he tried to ignore how much he missed her. She was sitting across from him but still felt miles away.

“I’m just trying to end this war. I want the fire lord gone, and if Korra is the only one who can do it I say we speed up the timeline as much as possible.” Han put his hands up in defeat.

“Could you send your eight-year-old child into battle with the most powerful fire bender?” Sokka asked.

“I don’t have any children Sokka, thank you for asking. Unfortunately, my wedding was called off. You wouldn’t happen to know why, would you?”

Zuko made eye contact with Suki and mouthed _what?_ She just shrugged and shook her head, as if to say _long story_.

“The Fire Lord has to die,” Han said finally, this time he was staring directly at Zuko as if waiting for him to challenge the statement.

“Ozai isn’t the Fire Lord anymore,” Zuko met his gaze. If this punk wanted a challenge Zuko was happy to oblige, “It seems the north really did avoid the war, you don’t even know who your enemy is.”

“Who then are we fighting?” The gray-bearded man asked. Zuko broke eye contact with Han and turned his attention to the map. Before, there was a pen in the Fire Nation representing the Fire Lord. Zuko picked it up and took the top off.

“My father promoted himself to The Phoenix King. He has been staying here recently-“Zuko put the bigger part of the pen just outside Ba Sing Se, “this is Azula. She’s The Fire Lord now-“ he put the top of the pen back in the Fire Nation, “the war won’t end until they are both defeated.”

“What do we do then?” Another water tribe woman asked. 

“Korra needs to train right?” Senna’s voice sounded small in the big room. Tonraq looked at her like she had just suggested they eat Naga, everyone stared at her. “I don’t want my daughter to fight any war. I don’t. But if down the line she can do something to help I think she needs to have the best shot we can give her.”

Senna’s statement fell flat, it didn’t resonate like all the shouting, even the room they were in couldn’t echo back the pain in Senna’s voice.

“She can’t train here much longer,” Suki said, “she can’t bend earth here and we still need to figure out how she can learn air bending.”

“Suki is right, we came here so Katara could heal. We should move on now.”

“Where will you go?” The gray-beard man asked everyone’s attention turned to the map.

“There’s a forest here, in the north of the old Fire Nation. It’s pretty big so we could camp out without getting discovered, there’s plenty of earth and areas to practice other types of bending.” Zuko grabbed the item representing Korra, a large silver coin, and put it on the map.

“Zuko that’s Han” Sokka whispered, “Korra is the feather.” Zuko rolled his eyes but switched out the items, this is why the fire nation had specific figurines made. Why did they even have a token for Han, he was just going to cower behind the wall of ice anyway.

“You can’t expect to live in a forest for any length of time without food or shelter.” Hakoda said, studying the map, “what’s this town?”

“I don’t know much about it, a small village, I think. We could check it out, maybe move into the village, and train in the forest.”

“Won’t that be suspicious? A huge group of strangers appearing in the village at once?” Tonraq spoke for the first time that meeting. It was clear he was not comfortable with situations like this, Zuko remembered every time they mentioned the war at the old air temple or Ember island, he would tense up much more than Senna or Korra.

“We have to go in a much smaller group.” Sokka said, “no more than six or seven. We show up in even smaller groups, staggering our arrivals by a week or so. We can all go to the forest together, then half camp out for a while.”

“Wouldn’t it be safer in a big city? Somewhere like Ba Sing Se?” the woman asked.

“If we were merely hiding then yes.” Sokka said, “but Korra has to train as well.”

“Fire Nation propaganda doesn’t reach the remote cities as much either- “Zuko said, “there is a chance they won’t think about us as threats. It’s also the least likely place to have my face plastered everywhere. Anyone in Ba Sing Se would immediately recognize the disgraced prince and the avatar’s friends.”

“Especially since Azula put us on display there on her victory tour” Suki added.

“Then it’s decided. Korra will move to the city and train.” Hakoda said, “now you have to determine who goes with her.”

“Obviously I will protect the Avatar.” Han stood up solemnly like they were asking him to shoulder a great burden.

“Yeah right, another bad idea for the pile!” Sokka mimed crumpling up a piece of paper and throwing it behind him.

“I thought it was a file” Han shot back, Zuko guessed it sounded cooler in his head.

“Things change- the file got too big, so I just started trashing your ideas right away- “

“Boys!” Katara interrupted, exasperation heavy in her voice, “Han is not coming. It has to be her bending teachers- “Katara moved three tokens to the feather. A pebble, an old ring, and a half-eaten piece of whale jerky. Zuko wasn’t sure which one represented him, hopefully, the ring.

“Suki and I have to come too” Sokka moved two more items, a dried flower and a different piece of half-eaten whale jerky, to join the others.

“That’s already six,” Senna said quietly.

“Oh well of course Korra’s parents- “Sokka scrambled to find more totems. He pulled some old paper out of his pocket and rolled it into a tight ball, “eight of us should be fine.”

“What about dad?” Katara asked, glancing down at her father. Hakoda responded with a kind smile,

“My place is here, for now, Katara, I have to help prepare the tribes for war.” Katara looked like she wanted to argue, but she shut her mouth.

Final details were arranged, they would go by stolen fire nation boat until they hit land then travel by foot the rest of the way, then everyone was sent away to pack and prepare.   
The table cleared away quickly, leaving Zuko sitting alone, staring at the children who had stopped playing their game in the corner and were now enjoying hot tea that one of their fathers had brought out. Zuko felt such a strong need to protect them, make sure those children could continue playing games and drinking tea from their loving fathers.

Zuko didn’t even try to sleep that night, he stayed on the ship organizing their stuff and double-checking the provisions they had would hold. Naga was already asleep on a pile of blankets in Korra and her parents’ room. The polar bear dog had been having the time of her life running freely in the snow, Zuko felt bad that she would soon have to be confined to the warm arid land in the Fire Kingdom.

Toph was also already on board, standing stoically at the helm of the ship. Zuko leaned on the railing next to her.

“Boy am I happy to leave this place,” she said, “I can finally use my feet again.”

“Me too, the leaving thing, not the feet thing. I could always use my feet.”

“Way to rub it in.” Toph blew a long strand of hair out of her eyes. Sokka and Suki had been recovering well, they had gained weight and had gotten haircuts and fresh clothes. Most importantly they were laughing again. Toph on the other hand looked almost worse than when he had first seen her in the wooden cage. She was even paler, so her skin was almost translucent. The beefy, muscular earth bender was gone and in her place was a wisp of a person. Zuko still felt like he would break her if he touched her. He hoped that being back on normal land would help her recover.

None of them had spoken about what happened after Aang’s death, it was like they were all pretending their time apart hadn’t happened. Whenever someone brought it up Sokka would quickly make a joke and change the subject. Suki would just pretend she hadn’t heard anything. Once Zuko walked by Sokka’s room and he was talking to Hakoda, both of them were crying. Zuko didn’t stop to listen to them but could only guess what they had been talking about.

The breeze off the ocean was cold, Zuko’s face and ears turning pink and his lips chapped in the dry air. Nonetheless, it still beat the stuffy underground ice, which was cold and stifling. As much as he hated his family, Zuko had to admit he was glad to be returning to the Fire Nation. Maybe he could finally find some spicy food or any food that wasn’t slimy and fishy.

Zuko looked to the south, itching to be back on open water. He had sailed almost nonstop for three years during his first banishment and had come to appreciate life on the water. The ship could always rock him to sleep, the expanse of calm water on all sides a welcome change from the chaos in his head.

He stood there with Toph in silence until the sun rose the next morning and the others arrived for their departure.

Zuko watched as Katara and Sokka said goodbye to their father again. Tonraq and Senna were hugging Korra tightly. Zuko wasn’t sure why since they were coming with them, but then they let go and Sokka and Katara each took one of the child’s hands and led her on board. Suki followed.

“Why aren’t Tonraq and Senna coming?” Zuko asked Sokka in a whisper, Korra was standing on the deck on her tiptoes peering over. Her eyes were red and swollen as if she had been crying.

“They um, decided it was best if Korra train alone. I think Han went and talked to them last night. They are going to return to the south with dad and start preparing defenses and gathering allies.”

Korra was still sniffling and trying to wave to her parents. Zuko reached over and hoisted her up, holding her steady against the rail so she could see better. The ship lurched and they began to move slowly. Zuko looked at the faces below and once again, began to prepare himself for the possibility they would never meet again. Once her parents faded from view Korra turned to Zuko, her lower lip quivering. He set her back down on the deck, kneeling to be at eye level. She sniffed a few times, eyes swelling up again.

“It’s going to be okay kiddo,” Zuko was still never quite sure what to say. He gently pulled her into a warm hug, Korra broke down and cried loudly into his shoulder. What could he even say to the child tasked with saving the world?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took longer! I hit a bit of a block but don't worry because there's some exciting stuff coming up! Thanks for being patient and thanks for all the great comments! Hope you enjoy!   
> I'm also making this up as I go so if there's something in particular you want to see... I have a rough plan but am open to ideas!


	11. Chapter 11

Sokka, Suki, and Toph entered the village first. They learned from a sign in the forest that the town was called Hira’a. The name was vaguely familiar to Zuko, but he wasn’t sure why and figured maybe he remembered from an old geography lesson. The trip had been shorter than they had thought, Katara spent most of the trip using waterbending to speed them along. She wasn’t avoiding Zuko, but they still hadn’t really spoken and Zuko was beginning to wonder if something was wrong.

Korra slowly adjusted to her parent’s being gone and had latched on to Suki and Zuko.

The forest next to the town was denser than Zuko had imagined, it was also very quiet. There were no animals rustling around in the shrubs, the leaves blew silently in the breeze.

Zuko had hoped he would have a chance to talk to Katara while they waited for word from the others, but with Korra under their guard, there was hardly time to talk. They returned to sleeping in shifts, meaning they were never both awake when Korra was asleep, and during the day they practiced bending or practiced their cover story with Korra. 

“Now who am I?”

“Uncle Lee!”

“And who is she?”

“Aunt Jade” Korra sighed “I already know all this”

“Where are you from?”

“I’m from Shu Jing. We ran away because the earth kingdom was fighting too much.”

“Great. Now, remember, you can only bend fire. Don’t let anyone see you bend anything else.”

They ran over it daily, drilling it into her head. They also trained nonstop, one morning Korra had woken up early and practiced water bending for a few hours before falling back asleep, her head in Katara’s lap.

Zuko was grilling some fish over a small fire for lunch. It was like they were back on the run again, just the two of them. Back when he knew he needed Katara around to survive but before he realized he _wanted_ her around too. Without her he would die, which was just as well because without her, he wouldn’t want to live. He wanted to tell her how he felt but then Sokka’s plan ruined that thought.

Sokka had suggested Zuko and Katara go into town as a married couple, Korra would be their niece they were raising. It made sense; how else would they explain living together? But now if Zuko confessed his feelings it would just make things more awkward, besides, they were in the middle of a war. Falling in love was probably the worst thing he could do.

But then he remembered their last day on Ember Island, he remembered fixing the cabinets and thinking they might have a future, he remembered her kissing him. They still hadn’t talked about that, about what it meant to her. He wanted to know how she felt about everything that had happened to them but wasn’t sure how to even begin to ask. Finally, after a long time of them just sitting in silence, he found his voice.

“How are you feeling? After, you know, the whole um, lightning thing.”

“I’m fine now. I knew it was bad, but I never imagined how much it would hurt. I don’t know how you survived, she didn’t hit me directly and I was out for weeks. You were hit straight in the chest.”

“I had a pretty good healer.” Zuko managed a smile. Katara blushed a little, she was beautiful. This was so unfair. “Katara, listen, I- “

Zuko was interrupted by Sokka tripping and falling into the middle of their camp, causing Korra to wake with a start. He was wearing new fire nation clothes and his hair was pulled into a tight bun on the top of his head.

“Okay, I think you guys should be set now. Things went mostly smoothly; we found a small house with a stable! And a garden to grow vegetables in! Also, we met the herbalist in town she said she is going to teach me how to grow seasonings that go good with pork!”

“That’s great Sokka, do you think we will be able to find jobs?” Katara asked.

“Yeah! Suki and I already have stuff lined up so you guys should be fine. Is your cover story set?”

Suddenly they couldn’t bear to make eye contact, “Yeah. It’s fine.” Zuko said. 

“Married. Korra is our niece.” Katara added. Sokka glanced between them,

“Yeah, I know that. I came up with it. Just make sure you have the details worked out in case someone asks.”  
“Is there anything else that can help us? Do you think we can live there without getting caught?” Katara asked, Sokka shrugged,

“Good a chance as anywhere I suppose. I should head back now though, I said I was running to grab food, but my boss won’t be too happy if I take more time than I have already. See you in town!”

Before they could ask any more questions, Sokka was gone. As quickly and chaotically as he had come.

“We can go now?” Korra asked, rubbing her eyes.

“After lunch,” Katara said, gently fixing Korra’s messy hair. She glanced at Zuko again, but his eyes remained fixed on the fire.

The town was a lot smaller than Zuko had imagined and he wondered if it was a bad idea to move there. It would probably not take much time for the other villagers to learn who they were, to start asking questions.

They found a tea shop and, figuring it was as good a place as any to ask around for jobs and a place to live, the trio shouldered their bags and headed inside. Zuko hated to admit it but the shop was kind of pathetic. There were only a few tables made out of old wood and stools were scattered about. Scraps of fabric ran across the tables in an attempt to cover how dilapidated the wood was. The windows let in musty light, but the air was stiff. It smelt like wet hay, Zuko chuckled to himself thinking about how appalled his Uncle would have been.

There were a few people sitting at one of the tables in the corner playing go on an old set. The only employee seemed to be a man maybe ten years older than Zuko. He ran around frantically, like a turkey-duck that was recently decapitated.

“Take a seat wherever! I’ll be with you in a moment!” The man called out to them, he had two large trays of tea in his arms and was headed to the table in the corner. Zuko saw how precarious the tea was on the trays and knew from experience it wasn’t going to end well. Before it had a chance to fall to the ground Zuko leaped forward and grabbed the tray, carrying it over to the table and setting it down.

“Thank you so much!” The employee said, he turned to face Zuko and his eyes narrowed, “you look familiar” Zuko glanced back at Katara and Korra, his heart sinking. It only took them five minutes in town to get recognized.

“Um you must be mistaken; we are new in town.”

“No, no I’ll tell you what I never forget a face.” The man scratched his head, then shrugged, “oh well! Please have a seat I’ll bring out my special brew!”

The tea tasted bad, Zuko knew he was a snob but even Katara seemed to have a hard time swallowing it. Far too bitter and the flavor was one dimensional. Zuko politely set the cup down, astutely aware of the man’s eye on them. “I have a bad feeling” Katara muttered, glancing back at him. Zuko nodded, trying to remain expressionless.

The man returned to collect their cups, still staring at Zuko but not saying anything. It was only a matter of time before he put together the scar and the pictures he’d seen of the disgraced prince. It was only a matter of time before they would have to fight their way out of the town and the weeks of work leading up to the move would be for nothing.

  
“I’ve seen you before,” the man said, finally his eyes lit up and a huge grin broke out on his face, “You work at The Jasmine Dragon!” he said, looking incredibly proud of himself. Zuko and Katara exchanged shocked glances.

“Um, yeah yes, we just came from Ba Sing Se,” Zuko said, the man pulled up a stool.

“I am such a fan you know I went to Ba Sing Se years ago and I just happened to stop in, you were the waiter! I remember now! The man who owned it, that old fella, he made the best tea I’ve ever had in my life. When I came back, I tried to open my own store to bring the joy of tea to the people here but as you can see it still needs a bit of work.” He looked around the store, seemingly ashamed.

“I think it’s great!” Zuko lied.

“Oh, pardon me! I never introduced myself! I’m Jun, owner and sole employee of Hong She Tea, at your service.”

“I’m Lee, the owner of Jasmine Dragon is my uncle. This is my wife Jade and our niece, Korra. We needed a break from the big city and wanted to settle down in the countryside.” Zuko repeated their cover story, he had said it out loud by himself enough times that he no longer felt weird calling Katara his wife.

“It’s a pleasure to have such a legend in my town!! Jun said, smiling

“We were actually wondering if you knew of anywhere that needs some extra help in exchange for a place to live,” Katara said. Jun looked like he had just been offered hundreds of gold coins. He leaned back nonchalantly,

“I just so happen to have a place you can stay in. The apartment above the tea shop has been empty since my second kid was born. It’s small but should be enough for you.”

“That sounds perfect!” Katara smiled, “we don’t need much space.”

“In exchange maybe you could help me around the shop!” Jun looked to Zuko like he was on the verge of begging, “I would be so honored to have someone as experienced as Lee from the Jasmine Dragon helping out!”

“I would love to,” Zuko smiled, “in fact, I have some ideas already.”

“Perfect! This is incredible! I’ll show you the apartment now and tonight I insist you come over for dinner with my family. Tomorrow we can start making changes!”

The apartment was small and covered in dust, but Zuko could tell it would quickly feel welcoming and inviting. There was a low table in the center of the main room, some cushions thrown around it. The kitchen was big enough for them to cook in and there was even a bookshelf and desk in the corner of the room. There were two bedrooms, a small one that would be perfect for Korra and a larger one for the two of them. Even the larger of the two rooms barely fit the bed and a dresser inside. Zuko and Katara stood in the doorway, staring at the bed that looked to be almost too small for two people.

“I can um, arrange cushions in the main room to sleep,” Zuko said after a moment.

“What? No this is fine. We have slept this close before.” Katara sounded as uncomfortable as Zuko felt. Great, he thought, this was going to make his feelings so much easier to deal with.

Thankfully Sokka, Suki, and Toph’s house had a stable out back for Naga to live in.

Jun’s wife, Miku, was warm and inviting. They had two children, Sophie was eight, and Micah only four. Miku was pregnant with a third but only a few months along. They had a huge dinner of traditional Fire Nation food and Zuko tried to hide how good it felt to be eating the food of his childhood. The dishes reminded him of his mother.

“So how did you two meet?” Miku asked Zuko and Katara, they glanced at each other realizing simultaneously that they should have gone deeper into their back story.

“We met in Ba Sing Se,” Zuko said, “she came to the tea shop a lot.”

“Ohh I bet you just fell instantly in love.” Miku smiled, winking at Katara, “how could you not? She’s gorgeous.” I _know_ Zuko thought.

“After weeks of me strongly hinting I was interested he finally asked me out,” Katara said, linking their arms together, “the rest is history.” She kissed him on the cheek. Zuko tried to control his heart rate, hoping she couldn’t feel how fast it was beating. Since when did little touches like this affect him so much?

“That’s beautiful,” Jun looked on the verge of tears, “I love young love.”

Sophie and Micah were teaching Korra a fire nation game, she seemed to be doing well based on how frustrated Micah looked.

After dinner Korra, Zuko and Katara returned home. Korra had fallen asleep so Zuko carried her, laying her gently on her bedroll and closing the door. Katara was unpacking what few belongings they had brought.

She had given Sokka his sword back. She gently folded her water tribe clothes and put them at the bottom of the dresser, out of sight. Zuko put the picture of his Uncle he had with him on top. They spoke at the same time:

“Which side of the bed do you- “

“I’m going to go clean up- “

“Oh yeah right um, I’ll just go to sleep first.” Zuko said, “Which side do you want?”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Katara said, quickly ducking out of the room. Zuko hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. Why was he so awkward? When had things changed so much? He quickly changed into sleep clothes and took the far end of the bed, trying to take up as little space as possible so Katara could sleep comfortably.

He pretended to be asleep when she reentered the room, quietly walking over. He felt the bed dip slightly as she laid down, the blankets pulled a little while she got comfortable. They weren’t touching but he could feel her warmth. He tried to relax enough to fall asleep, but he was unsuccessful.

“Zuko?” Evidently, she wasn’t able to sleep either, “are you awake?” Zuko ignored her, pretending to be asleep. He was worried she was going to ask what he wanted to say earlier. He felt her sigh slightly. “I miss you.” She whispered, so quietly he wondered if he had been imagining it. _I miss you too_ he wanted to say. He didn’t though, he kept pretending to sleep until he was finally overcome with exhaustion.

The next day Korra went to the forest with Toph to practice earth bending and Katara went to try and find a job of her own. Zuko went to work, spending most of the morning teaching Jun the basics of making tea. He hung onto Zuko’s every word, like Zuko was bestowing some deep wisdom rather than just talking about different water temperatures. Zuko also figured out how to open the windows, letting in more light and a cool breeze that aired out the place. He felt good working with tea again, if he tried, he could almost pretend he was back with Uncle at the Jasmine Dragon. Some of the happiest days of his life had been working at the tea shop in Ba Sing Se, watching his uncle get more and more successful. He hoped that wherever Uncle was he was proud of Zuko.

They ate at home that night, just the three of them. Korra talked incessantly about the new

earthbending Toph had taught her, demonstrating the forms she had been taught. Katara’s job hunt had been a bust, the town was small enough that there weren’t many people who needed help

“I’m sure you can find something,” Zuko said, filling his bowl with more rice.

“Maybe. Tomorrow I’ll go ask around some more.” She fiddled with the edge of the cushion seat.

“You could always wait for a while. You are still recovering and – “Zuko dodged a rock that flew near his face, “Korra! What did we say! No earthbending in the house!” he snapped, Korra slowly sat down, looking ashamed and a little scared. He had never yelled at her before, and as soon as he registered what he had said he felt guilty.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten angry.” He said, putting more meat on Korra’s plate in an attempt to placate her.

“Sorry, I won’t do it again,” Korra mumbled her face bright red.

“It’s okay, just try and remember next time. Bending can hurt people if you aren’t careful.” Katara said gently. Katara made a good mother, she had always been maternal to Aang and the rest of the gang back before they lost the war. Her own mother had been taken from her so young Zuko wasn’t sure where she learned how to love like that.

“I’m glad you found a job so quickly,” Katara returned to their conversation,

“Yeah, Jun seems excited about the changes and it already feels nicer in there. The tea is drinkable now too which is an improvement. I think tomorrow we are going to start finding nicer tables.”

“That sounds nice.” Their conversation was flat. Like they were simply reading what they should say rather than actually having a conversation. Zuko was trying to avoid accidentally blurting out what he was thinking, Katara seemed to be holding back as well. It was almost too much for him to bear, the awkwardness and the silence. If he had to spend one more night trying as hard as he could to not touch her, he might go crazy.

Once again, they got ready for bed in silence. This time Katara went to bed first but she didn’t pretend to be asleep when Zuko crawled under the covers. She reached out and gently touched his arm, “you can relax you know.” She said, the ghost of a smile forming on her face. Zuko hadn’t even realized how tense he was.

“I know that,” He sounded more defensive than he had meant to, “I’m not tense.”

“Mhmm,” Katara said, clearly not believing a word he said, “things feel weird now.” That was putting it mildly, “I can see you and touch you, but you seem so far away.”

Zuko grabbed her hand, weaving their fingers together. Maybe if he just said what he was thinking it would be better, maybe she felt the same way.

“I’m right here.” He said instead.

“Things are different now though. Zuko when we were in those cages I didn’t know if we would ever be able to talk again. It was torture having to see you every day and not being able to get close or help. I felt so helpless.” A tear rolled down Katara’s cheek, “and Sokka and Suki and Toph were right there too. They still won’t even talk about where they were and it just all feels so wrong. I miss Aang and every time I see Korra I think of him, especially now that Sokka and Suki and Toph are back it’s just so…weird.”

Every time Katara brought up Aang it was like a thousand needles were stabbing him at once. Of course, she loved Aang, Zuko wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to move on. He felt guilty for wishing she would. He brought their hands up to her cheek, gently wiping away her tear with the back of his hand. Then she brought their hands to her lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. He knew what she meant; they were so close to each other but felt so far away. He didn’t know if it was possible to bridge the gap. He wasn’t sure how he could even try.

Before he could say anything in response, their door opened and Korra stood in the doorway, “I had a bad dream.” She said quietly. Katara and Zuko sat up,

“Oh no that’s no good!” Katara said.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” Korra looked so small and scared. They nodded and Korra crawled into the bed, settling between them. She buried her face in Katara’s chest and gently cried, Zuko put his arm around both of them pulling them close. He wished he could fire bend away Korra’s sadness and fear, he wished he could leap across the chasm between him and Katara. He could fight, he could run, he was smart. But when it came to emotions Zuko was lost. They forgot to teach him how to deal with situations like this in the Royal Acadamy growing up.

The best he could do was make sure they were safe, warm, comfortable.

The best he could do was hug them as they slept and pray the rest sorted itself out.


	12. Chapter 12

There was an old saying Uncle used to say to Zuko, something along the lines of “the honorable one has self-knowledge”, basically meaning its best to know your own strengths and weaknesses. Although Zuko knew he wasn’t the best firebender compared to his father or sister, he considered himself more than adept when using his swords. He had fought with them for years, getting to the point where when trouble struck, he would reach for the swords first and try and firebend second. He thought he had mastered how to fight almost anything with two swords and some fancy footwork. It was Sokka, armed with a metal fan, that taught him he was wrong.

Sokka had made the fan in secret, it looked the wooden and paper ones that had intricate paintings on them except the entire thing was made out of rough metal. It was going to be a gift for Suki, to replace her Kyoshi Warriors Fan that had been lost years ago, but before giving it to her Sokka needed to test it out and make sure it worked.

That’s how Zuko ended up on his back on a bale of hay behind Sokka’s house, Sokka’s knee in his chest, and the sharpened fan at his throat like an ax blade.

“Do you think it works?” Sokka asked, standing up and lending Zuko a hand.

“I’d say,” Zuko mumbled, embarrassed that Sokka had disarmed him so quickly. His swords hung limp at his side, useless. Sokka folded and unfolded the fan a few times, meticulously studying the way that it moved. He spun it around in his hand again, then pointed it at Zuko.

“One more match,” He said, “this time use fire.”

“I’m not gonna do that Sokka,” Zuko said,

“I have to see if it's fireproof and you are the only firebender I trust. Besides if anything happens we have my sister.”

“She’s in the forest with Korra today.”

“Well then don’t hurt me,” Sokka shrugged, “now ATTACK!” He lept up, holding the closed fan like a hammer, aiming for Zuko’s face. Zuko lept back and shot a small ball of fire at Sokka, he easily opened the fan and blew the fire away. He landed in front of Zuko and charged again, this time Zuko raised his swords and tried to disarm Sokka.

The hilt of Zuko’s sword smashed against the fan and it must have triggered one of Sokka’s hidden buttons because in a moment Sokka was on the ground crying out in pain, blood spilling from his arm.

Zuko dropped his sword and rushed to Sokka, “What happened?” there was a gash going up his wrist and blood pouring out. Zuko knew enough to recognize one of the important veins had been struck, he needed to stop bleeding.

“I don’t know! I think one of the hidden blades backfired” Sokka groaned, “Katara picked a great day to train Korra.”

“You picked a great day to test out a super dangerous weapon!” Zuko shot back. He had taken off the belt around his waist and was using it to tightly bind the wound, “we have to get you to that herbalist in town otherwise you will bleed out and Katara won’t have anything to save.”

“Okay okay but don’t tell Suki what happened…” Zuko stood up, helping Sokka to his feet. Sokka staggered then lurched forward. The only thing keeping him from faceplanting was Zuko. He put his arm under Sokka and helped him walk into town towards the herbalist’s house. He had never met her, but Suki had pointed it out to Katara a few days ago. He knocked on the door and after a few seconds, a teenage girl opened it. She had short, choppy brown hair and golden eyes. When she saw Zuko’s face, she gasped but quickly covered it up with a scowl.

“How did you find us?” She demanded,

“Um, my friend cut his arm really bad and needs help. Is the herbalist in?”

“She isn’t in right now.” The girl said, not taking her eyes off Zuko, “sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry.

“Okay well I need help with this,” Sokka held up his arm, she finally looked at him and her face morphed into disgust, “and I don’t want to die.”

“Kiyi,” a man's voice came from inside, “who is it?”

“Someone’s hurt” the girl, Kiyi, shouted back, “but mum isn’t here so try somewhere else.” She said that, again, to Zuko and it was hard for him not to take it personally. The man appeared behind her, he was an older man with a mustache and goatee. He had kind eyes and looked sympathetically at Sokka.

“Well get them inside, we can’t very well let the boy die on our front porch can we?” The man gently pushed Kiyi aside and reached for Sokka. When he saw Zuko he too looked shocked for a moment before quickly recovering and helping them inside. He sent Kiyi to get water and towels while helping Sokka to the couch, “What’s your name son?” He asked,

“So-“

“Wang.” Zuko realized quickly that Sokka had lost so much blood he wasn’t thinking well and might expose them, “he’s Wang and I’m Lee.”

“I see," Zuko felt like he didn't believe them, "I’m Noren and that was my daughter, Kiyi. Unfortunately, my wife is out for the day gathering plants in the nearby forest but I’m not so useless myself.” Noren unwrapped Sokka’s arm and Kiyi returned with a water bucket and some rags. He gently cleaned off the blood revealing a long gash that extended up most of his forearm.

“What on earth happened?”

“It was an accident; we were practicing fighting and this fan he built backfired.”

“Well, unfortunately, my wife would be able to do a better job but I think I have an idea.” Noren looked Zuko up and down as if sizing him up. Kiyi stood in the corner, her arms crossed, glaring at Zuko. “You are a firebender.” Noren said it as more of a statement than a question, Zuko nodded, “good then you can help stop the bleeding.”

First, Sokka was made to lie down on the table, then Noren directed Zuko in using very small bursts of focused flame to burn the skin on the wound, stopping it from bleeding. Zuko felt terrible, with every touch Sokka would wince, crying out occasionally. Thankfully the process was quick and, in a few moments, Noren was laying some wet leaves over the wound.

“This will do for now; this plant has cooling properties. Hopefully, it will make the pain from the fire go away.” Noren then wrapped the arm again, “I’d be more careful with – what did you say a fan?”

“It’s a really cool fan” Sokka managed, “its metal and has like, a blade. It’s for my girlfriend.”

“Well I’m no expert but you might want to fix it before giving it to her.” Noren smiled.

“Thank you so much for your help, I work at the Hong She tea shop in town please stop by whenever and I can thank you again,” Zuko said, helping Sokka stand up again and bringing him to the door.

“Come back tomorrow morning and my wife can help fix the wound better, I wouldn’t trust my own methods for anything more than a temporary fix,” Noren called out as they left, Zuko promised he would send Sokka back and they headed home.

Suki was in the small kitchen of their home, teaching Toph how to chop vegetables. Toph stood a few feet away from the counter, the knives chopping irregular size potatoes on their own. Suki sighed, “Toph you can’t just metal bend this, you need to feel the food too in order to know how big the slices are. Here, look” Suki grabbed Toph’s hands and forced her to hold the kitchen knife, guiding her hand as they cut the potato.

“Okay okay! I got it!” Toph shrugged Suki off. Suki glanced up and saw Zuko, attempting to gently lower Sokka onto the chair. Sokka was not being helpful and ended up dropping into the chair then sliding onto the floor.

Suki ran over, holding up the poorly bandaged arm, “what did you do to him?” she asked Zuko,

“It wasn’t me! It was um, an accident.” Toph also walked up,

“What’s going on?”

“Sokka’s whole arm is torn up! What happened?” This time she asked Sokka, lifting him by the shirt collar so they were face to face. Sokka smiled at her, using his good arm to push himself off the ground and smashing their faces together in what Zuko guessed was supposed to be a kiss.

“You are so pretty,” Sokka said, still smiling. Suki sighed, letting him drop gently to the ground.

“Who bandaged him up?”

“The herbalist’s husband, Noren. He should go back tomorrow, and she can make it better.” Zuko said, “he should rest too, he lost a lot of blood.” Suki sighed,

“Fine if neither of you will tell me what happened I’ll figure it out myself.”

“Why can’t Katara just heal me?”

“Because we said you would go back, they already saw your wound so if it's magically healed tomorrow they will be suspicious.” Zuko helped Suki drag Sokka to their room, leaving him halfway off the bed and in his girlfriend’s care.

On the walk home, Zuko's thoughts drifted to Katara. He couldn’t help but be jealous of Sokka and Suki’s relationship, they just went for it. Not thinking too hard, not worrying about what would happen. Should he make something nice for Katara? Would that be too weird? They weren’t dating. Besides, what could Zuko make other than tea? He makes her tea all the time. She deserved something better. 

He was so lost in thought he didn’t notice the person in front of him until the head of a spear was pressing against his throat. He immediately went on high alert, raising his arms to defend himself.

At the other end of the spear was Kiyi, the herbalist’s daughter. Zuko lowered his arms, he wasn’t going to fight a child, no matter what weird vendetta she had against him.

“I know who you are and I know why you’re here.” She said, her eyes were piercing and reminded him a little too much of Azula’s. His heart began to race, how did she know? “I shall keep your secret prince,” she spat the word, “if you promise to stay away from my family and never come near us.” She pushed the spear harder into his throat, Zuko took a step back, “I won’t let you keep ruining my family.” She said Zuko swore there was fear in her face.

“I don’t know what you mean- I’m just here to live a quiet life.” He said, slowly raising a hand to lower the spear. She pushed in harder and he lowered his hand again.

“There’s no way you came here by accident- I know what you are looking for. I don’t care who you are or how powerful you are, if you don’t stay away, I will end you.”

Somehow, Zuko believed her.

“I promise to stay away from your family,” He said, “I don’t want any trouble.” Kiyi didn’t move. “Also, next time you hold a spear to someone’s throat don’t hold it from the bottom. Put one hand higher up it will give you more leverage and make it harder for them to push it away.” Zuko raised his leg quickly kicking away the spear, it clattered to the ground a few feet away. Kiyi stood there, staring at her own hands as if they had betrayed her.

Zuko glanced at her once more before walking away, trying to figure out why she looked familiar and trying to remember what he could have done to her family.

Miku was in the apartment when he got back, teaching Sophie and Korra how to braid each other’s hair so it wouldn’t tangle.

“Uncl-ow ow ow oowww” Korra tried to stand up but forgot Sophie had her hair in her fist and fell back against her.

“Careful now!” Miku smiled, helping the girls untangle themselves.

“Hey there kid” Zuko smiled, kneeling down and ruffling Korra’s hair, “Is Jade here?”

“You’re home late” Katara came out of Korra’s room holding a pair of Korra’s pants. There was a huge hole in the knee.

“Sorry I was helping Wang out with something.”

“Is he okay?”

“He cut up his arm pretty bad, but he’ll be fine. It was an accident” Zuko added quickly, seeing Katara tense up, “he’s fine.”

“Sophies here!” Korra said the girls had become fast friends and Zuko was glad she had someone her own age to hang out with.

“Jun took Micah to his parents tonight; his mother is older so she can’t handle lots of guests at once. Jade said we could stay for dinner; I hope that’s not an imposition.” Miku said Zuko smiled,

“Not at all!”

“Today I caught a fish!” Korra said proudly, “we are going to eat it for dinner!”

“That’s great! Finally pulling your own weight around here.” Zuko gave her a high-five.

“Speaking of pulling weight,” Katara tossed the pants at Zuko, hitting him in the face, “Korra ripped her pants.” Zuko held them up, besides the new hole there were already a number of patches and stitches. He settled back against the wall and grabbed the sewing kit. He could probably mend these once more before she would need new ones. Miku was watching with amusement,

“I wish Jun could sew; it would save me so much time.” She said.

“I learned as a child- my mother taught me,” Zuko said. Once he had torn one of Azula’s shirts out of anger and his mother made him fix it. When he complained that they had servants who could fix it, his mother said, “no dear Zuzu, you are the one who ripped it, so you have to fix it.” Thinking back he was certain his tiny hands did not do a good enough job and someone else had probably gone back and fixed his stitches, but the lesson stuck and Zuko had to admit the skill came in handy.

“He can sew better than I can,” Katara said as she and Muki brought out dinner, “I don’t know what I would do without him.” They smiled at each other, Zuko liked having Muki around but wished they were alone so he could tell Katara about Kiyi and the weird encounter they had. 

“Did you know Sophie is a firebender?” Korra asked Zuko over dinner, putting her arm around her friend. Sophie blushed into her food.

“Really?” Zuko raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not good yet,” Sophie mumbled,

“It’s okay! Uncle Lee can teach you!” Korra beamed at him.

“Really?” Sophie looked up, excited, “I want to be powerful! Like the Fire Lord!” Sophie stood up triumphantly.

“I’m sure you will be someday,” Zuko said.

“Really?”

“Why not?” Zuko admired Sophie’s energy, “you have to train really hard though. Every day.”

“Okay!”

“And you have to practice all the forms that can be boring.”

“Okay!”

“And you have to wake up super early in the morning- “

“Okay! I’m going to be more powerful than the Firelord!” Sophie stood up triumphantly, Korra clapped for her friend. Miku looked gratefully at Zuko,

“Okay. Tomorrow morning then, I want the two of you outside at the crack of dawn.”

“OKAY!” The girls cheered, falling back and giggling.

Sophie ended up falling asleep on the floor after dinner. Miku went to wake her up but Katara suggested she just stay there.

“Alright, I’ll come to get her tomorrow afternoon then. Oh, I almost forgot to mention! Jun wanted to have a big meal tomorrow afternoon at the shop, we are going to invite the other family that just moved in too and some other people from around town. We would love it if you would join!”

“Of course! We can’t wait!” Katara stood next to Zuko, leaning on him slightly. His arm was around her as they waved goodbye to Miku. He was comfortable like this, their husband-wife act was growing on him. If only they were more like Sokka and Suki, unafraid to love in the midst of a war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is getting so domestic, it would be a shame if something... happened


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning Zuko woke up the girls a little bit after the crack of dawn, dragging them outside, yawning into the sun.

Sophie hadn’t trained before so Zuko went back to the basics, teaching her the stances and the forms. Korra already knew them but Zuko made her learn along, “practice is always good and the stronger your stance the stronger your bending.” He said over her complaints.

Jun came to the shop while they were training, watching his daughter with pride. Zuko felt pride for Korra too, he knew she was the Avatar so clearly she would be powerful but her ability to bend fire was still impressive, better than Aang had been when he first started.

A little later in the morning, Toph came by to take Korra into the forest to practice earth bending, promising to return in time for dinner. Zuko kept practicing with just Sophie until Miku came and brought her home, thanking Zuko again for taking the time to help her.

The tea shop had become busier since Zuko arrived, more people filled in and out, often staying to play some Go or read at one of the corner tables. Jun had installed a tea of the day, trying out a new recipe of his every day. Once Zuko had taught him the basics he was off like a madman, creating new teas that were for the most part pretty good. Uncle would have been proud of the shop, Zuko decided.

That evening, as the sun began to dip over the horizon, Jun and Zuko pushed the tables together and threw a cloth over them, making one giant table that would fit the whole town if needed. Food came out of the kitchen, they used the tea shop kitchen and the one in the apartment to make food twice as fast, filling the whole building with the smell of hot string beans, spicy fish and grilled meat.

Just as the sun had vanished beyond the mountains, Zuko lit the lanterns around the room and people started to arrive. Sokka and Suki came from the Herbalists house, Sokka’s bandage looking much nicer than the one Noren had done yesterday. Katara immediately began fussing over him, forgetting that they were supposed to be acquaintances and not siblings.

A few other people Zuko had seen around the tea shop arrived and soon the store was full of laughter as everyone began settling down to eat. Zuko went back to the kitchen for a moment, putting on more water for tea and checking to see if the tea he had made earlier was done. He put the pot on a tray along with more cups for the new guests before heading back into the main room. Kiyi had arrived with her father. She was talking to Suki and laughing, the opposite of the stone-faced girl that had stopped him the night before. Zuko felt his palms get sweaty, hopefully, she wouldn’t attack him there, or worse, spill his secret. He didn’t want to have to fight a 13-year-old in the middle of dinner.

Another woman had her back to him, she was talking to Katara and laughing. Zuko guessed it was Kiyi’s mother, the herbalist. But didn’t pay much attention to her, his eye still on Kiyi, wondering what she was going to do when she saw him.

Her eyes finally landed on him and she stood up quickly, startling Suki into spilling her tea. Her eyes shot between Zuko and her mother and fear filled her face. Zuko realized her problem with him must have something to do with her mother, but he wasn’t sure what it could be.

Her mother was laughing at something and her voice echoed across the room, Zuko felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He knew that voice, his mind must have been playing tricks on him because there was no way she could be here. In this town. Married, and with a daughter.

Zuko heard Katara’s voice but it sounded far away, like they were underwater, “This is my husband, Lee, he works at the tea shop. Lee, this is the herbalist you’ve heard so much about-”

The woman turned around and Zuko heard the tea tray he had been holding clatter to the floor, breaking into pieces. The tea splashed up his legs, probably burning him but he couldn’t feel it.

He felt paralyzed as their eyes met, the same golden eyes he saw every day in the mirror, the same ones he had seen on Kiyi. Zuko tried to breathe but there was no air entering his lungs. He felt his eyes fill with hot tears; his throat was too dry to speak.

Everyone was looking at him, the room had gone silent when he dropped the tray but he didn’t care. It was like there was only one other person in the room with him. She was also silent in shock, pain was written all over her face. She was older, wrinkles had formed around her eyes from smiling. Her hair was no longer pitch black; it had lightened with time, but she still had the same strong jaw, same kind eyes he had thought about every day for over ten years. Nobody said anything. He felt Kiyi’s eyes boring into him like lasers, as if willing him to combust on the spot.

He wanted to run to her, wanted to yell at her for leaving, wanted to tell her how much he missed her, tell her he loves her. He opened his mouth again, but nothing came out. Katara gently touched his arm, “Lee?” she said quietly, her voice brought him back to earth. He glanced down at her, then back at the woman in front of him.

“I forgot the tea.” He said, turning on his heel and walking to the kitchen without looking at anyone else. He heard Katara follow him.

“Hey what’s wrong?” She asked, as soon as they were out of sight Zuko felt the energy drain out of him. He leaned against the counter, clutching it until his knuckles turned white. The curtain between the front and the back moved aside and there she was.

They locked eyes again, her eyes had filled with tears.

“Zuko” she almost whispered, “is it really you?”

She stepped closer to him, staring into his face as if he was a ghost. She gently touched his scar, “Oh, Zuko what did he do to you?”

Zuko choked out a sob and she pulled him into a tight hug. He clung to her, clung so hard he didn’t think he could ever let go. He poured years of pain and loss and sadness into the hug, trying to make up for all the time apart. She still smelt the same, still felt the same.

“Oh, son I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry” she sobbed into his ear.

“Mother- “Zuko managed to say, his voice was barely above a whisper. Barely audible. She held him tighter and he never wanted the hug to end.


	14. Chapter 14

Ursa pulled away from the hug slowly, her eyes still studying Zuko’s face. He sniffled and wiped away his tears on the edge of his sleeve.

“I thought you were dead.” He said finally, meeting his mother’s eyes again. She looked at him as if she was studying him, committing his face to memory. He wondered if she had seen pictures, if she knew about the scar on his face or if she was seeing it for the first time.

“I’m so sorry, it was the only thing I could do to save you,” she said finally, “but you still suffered so much. Tell me, son, what happened to you?”

Where could he even start?

“I…a lot has happened,” Zuko said, “that man…and Kiyi,”

“Yes, Noren was my first love, long before I met your father. When I returned he helped me deal with the pain of leaving you.”

Zuko hadn’t even noticed that Katara had left the room. He also hadn’t noticed Noren entering the room and standing in the corner. Zuko stared at him, wondering what kind of man his mother could fall in love with, hoping that Noren was good enough for her.

“So, it really is you,” Noren said. Zuko nodded cautiously, he was unable to read Noren’s expression. He couldn’t imagine how weird this must be for him, “I guessed when you came by yesterday, but I couldn’t be sure.”

“Why did you say nothing?” Ursa asked him, her hand still protectively on Zuko’s arm.

“I wanted to be sure first,” Noren finally smiled, clapping Zuko on the shoulder, “it’s good to finally meet you.”

“Likewise.” Zuko held out his hand but Noren pulled him into a hug.

“You have found love as well?” Ursa turned back to Zuko, “that girl who introduced us, Jade.”

“Oh, well, we aren’t really married…her real name is Katara.”

“There you all went!” Miku walked pushed through the curtain, “Lee are you alright? You dropped that tray everyone is worried you’ve fallen ill.”

“I’m alright.” Zuko said, “sorry for scaring you all.”

They all stood there for a moment while Miku moved past to get some more plates.

“We can speak more later,” Noren said, “now is time for a happy meal!” Noren grabbed the plates from Miku and followed her into the dining room, leaving Zuko and his mother alone again.

“He’s right, I don’t want you to be discovered here. We will talk more later, for now, though I am so glad to see you Zuko,” his mother hugged him again and Zuko felt like he was seven years old. Safe in his mother’s arms and not yet aware of how cruel the world outside could be.

They returned to the dining area and sat at opposite ends of the table, Zuko next to Katara and his mother between Noren and Kiyi. Kiyi kept glaring at Zuko, grabbing her mother’s arm protectively. Now he understood why she knew who he was, but he still didn’t know why she hated him so much. He hated the idea of another little sister that hated him.

Katara reached for his hand under the table, her eyes asking him the silent question “are you okay?” he smiled and nodded, squeezing her hand.

Zuko didn’t eat much at dinner, he kept stealing glances down the table and watching his mother. She laughed easily, she seemed so happy with Noren and Kiyi. Happier than she had ever been at the palace.

He couldn’t wait for dinner to be over, for them to stop acting and be able to talk freely with his mother. Zuko felt every clink of a dish, every scrape of chopsticks on ceramic plate, every joke Sokka tried to tell, every time the children shrieked about some argument. He tried to formulate what he would say when they could finally talk, what he would ask, and how he would tell her what had happened to them. He couldn’t tell her about Azula, about how she was the day of her coronation. Ozai’s sins could be understood and were expected but he didn’t want her to know just how far her daughter had fallen.

Finally, the food was gone and most of the guests had gone home. Sokka and Suki pulled Zuko aside and asked what was wrong, Zuko promised to tell them later. He brought a stack of plates back to the kitchen, passing them to Korra and Sophie who Katara had put to work washing dishes. She smiled reassuringly at him.

“You guys go upstairs, Korra and I will keep ourselves busy for a while,” she whispered, nodding back at Ursa and her family.

“I…” anxiety suddenly welled up in him, he grabbed her hand again, “I can’t do it. What do I say to her?”

“She’s your mother, just say what’s on your heart.” Katara sounded like Uncle but even that wasn’t enough to calm his breathing.

“I need you there,” he hated how desperate he sounded. Katara stared for a second before nodding,

“Okay, you head up first I’ll send Korra back with Suki.”

Zuko nodded, slowly heading upstairs. He stood in the middle of the room, not sure what to do with himself. After a few moments he heard footsteps, the door opened and Katara came in first. Kiyi, Noren, and his mother followed. 

“Nice place,” Noren said, looking around.

“Jun is letting us stay here because we are helping with the shop downstairs.” Katara said, “please everyone, make yourselves at home. I’ll get tea.”

“I can make the tea-- “Zuko suddenly snapped into gear, turning towards the kitchen. Katara stopped him, turning him back towards his family.

“Sit down," she ordered, "unless you don’t trust me to make the tea.” He wasn't sure if he did, to be honest he had never had Katara's tea. It couldn't be worse than Jun's though. 

“Um, right, you can do it.” Zuko agreed, sitting on the floor across from the three guests. They sat there in silence for a few moments. Noren looked around the room, trying to find something to focus on. Unfortunately, their apartment was sparse, only a picture of Uncle Iroh and a badly drawn picture of Aang (a Sokka Original) adorned the walls, there were a few pairs of Korra's clothes in the corner waiting to be mended or adjusted. Aang's staff leaned against the wall. Kiyi's attention was split between Katara and Zuko and he couldn't figure out what her thoughts on either of them were. Ursa also glanced at Katara, but her gaze was mostly on Zuko.

“So why are you in Hira’a?” Noren asked eventually.

“It’s obvious he’s here for mom. He’s trying to take her back.” Kiyi said, eyeing him with distrust. So that’s what she was worried about, Zuko realized, she was scared he would ruin her family dynamic. 

“No, actually. We had no idea you were here. We picked this town randomly. We um, needed somewhere to hide out and train Korra.”

“What’s so special about Korra?” Kiyi asked. Zuko looked at Katara. She set a tray of tea in front of everyone and sat next to him on the floor.

“She’s the Avatar,” Katara said. The three of them gasped simultaneously.

“The avatar died,” Kiyi said, looking at them like they were stupid.

“The avatar reincarnates.” Ursa said, “so she’s from the water tribe?”

“Yes. She’s from the southern water tribe, just like Katara.” Zuko said, “this is Katara by the way. We aren’t married.”

“Thanks for the great introduction” Katara rolled her eyes but Zuko knew she was trying to lighten the mood, “Wang, you met him earlier, is my brother, Sokka. His girlfriend is Suki and the earthbender with us is Toph. We are team Avatar I guess you could say.”

“So…you aren’t trying to go back to the capital?” Kiyi asked quietly, still glaring at him.

“Not yet. I can’t get close without Azu-without the fire lord capturing me. Especially not now that we are raising the avatar.”

“Aren’t you the prince?” Kiyi sounded occupational, like being a prince was a crime he had committed rather than a burden he had been born into. Zuko wondered how much news had traveled to the town. Apparently not very much.

“I was banished,” Zuko lowered his head.

“Azula banished you?” Ursa said, “but how did she become Firelord? You are the eldest.”

“Azula didn’t banish me, father did. When I was thirteen.” Zuko told them everything, he told them about the Agni Kai with his father, about looking for Aang with Uncle Iroh, he told them about all the terrible things he had done to Sokka and Katara and Aang. 

He told her about how he changed sides, how he ended up teaching Aang firebending, preparing him to kill his father. Then he told them about Azula becoming Fire Lord, about Aang losing. He told them about meeting Korra in the forest and needing somewhere safe to train her.

They listened with rapt attention. Ursa teared up when he mentioned his father or sister. He had watered down most of what had happened with them, he didn’t mention the Agni Kai with Azula where she had gone mad, he didn’t talk about the things his father had told him after she left. The way he talked about her with disdain, refusing to let Zuko hold onto the memory of his mother, refusing to tell him where she was.

Even still though, he could see her heartbreaking. Kiyi leaned forward and when he finished, she looked at him differently, he couldn’t tell if she hated him more or less.

“You were friends with Avatar Aang?” Noren asked,

“Yes,” Katara said, letting Zuko stop talking so he could take a drink, “Sokka and I discovered Aang in the south pole and stuck with him until the end.”

“I’ve never met a waterbender before,” Kiyi said, turning her attention away from Zuko. Katara smiled and made the tea raise out of the pot and into her cup. Kiyi’s eyes got wide as she smiled. 

"I can show you more some other time," Katara promised. 

During the story Ursa had reached over, clutching Zuko’s hand while he spoke. Tears fell down her face, “I’m so sorry” she said, “I left you to suffer so much.”

“What happened, that night you left?” Zuko asked he didn’t ask what he really wanted to know: _How could you leave me with them?_

“I had no other choice. Ozai was going to kill you. Azulon told him that if he wanted to replace Iroh as the crowned prince he had to first know the pain of losing his only son. I gave him what he wanted- I gave him his throne on the one condition that he keep you safe. In exchange, I had to leave forever.”

“You left to protect me?”

“Everything I’ve done has been to protect you, my child, I see now that I failed. He still caused you so much pain and suffering.” Ursa’s face turned bitter with anger.

“You did what you had to do,” Katara said gently, “we are just lucky we found you.”

“But how did you and my father meet? I can’t imagine he had many summer vacations here.”

“Your father and grandfather arrived one day and said I was to marry the Fire Lord’s son, they believed that the Avatar’s great-granddaughter and the Firelord’s son would make the most powerful firebenders in the world. I was supposed to marry Noren, but I couldn’t turn down an invitation from the Firelord.”

“Wait, your great grandfather was the Avatar?” Kiyi asked.

“Yes, you are a direct descendent of Avatar Roku,” Ursa smiled, “that’s why you are so powerful.”

“She’s a firebender?” Zuko asked,

“Yes! And I could probably beat you in a fight.” Kiyi assured him.

“No doubt about it,” Zuko said. Kiyi looked at him for the first time with something other than disdain. They sat there in silence, quietly drinking now-lukewarm tea and exchanging glances.

“It’s getting late,” Noren said, “why don’t we talk more tomorrow?”

“Yes, we would love to meet the rest of your friends too.” Ursa said, “your friend with the exploding fan intrigues me.” 

“That makes sense,” Katara smiled, “my brother is a very intriguing person.”

“I’ll walk you home,” Zuko said as they all stood up, “I need to pick up Korra anyways.”

“She can spend the night there,” Katara yawned, “she has to train with Toph in the morning and I think Toph likes getting a break from Sokka and Suki.” 

“We will talk again soon,” Noren smiled warmly, hugging Zuko again on their way out, “It’s so good to have you around.” Zuko wondered how this man could be so nice to him even though he barely knew him. He felt warmth and kindness from Noren that reminded him of Hakoda. Is this what fathers are supposed to feel like? In a different life could he have learned to love like that?

Kiyi glared at him on her way out but this time it felt less malicious. He was determined to make her like him, refusing to have two sisters for enemies. Kiyi also seemed like she would make a good ally.

He walked them down the stairs, Ursa held back, smiling at Zuko again, “I’m so proud of you,” she said, Zuko should have felt happy but there was a lump in his throat that he couldn’t swallow. His mother hugged him again as if trying to make up for all those years of hugs he never got, “and Katara seems like a really nice girl.” She smiled, bumping Zuko’s shoulder gently. Despite the lump in his throat, Zuko couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah, she’s really something.”

“I’m so glad you found me.” Ursa smiled again before leaving with her husband and daughter. Her new family. Zuko tried to picture himself fitting into her new family but couldn’t quite figure out where.

Katara was carrying the dishes to the kitchen when he returned upstairs. He wordlessly walked up to her, taking the tray from her and setting it down before wrapping his arms around her. She tensed for a moment with surprise before relaxing and wrapping her arms around him. She pulled his head down, holding it against her shoulder. Her other hand rubbing his back gently. She smelt like salt water and fresh air. He had been hugged a lot that night by his mother and Noren, but it was Katara’s arms that made him feel like he was home.

“Are you okay?” she asked as he clutched tighter.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. Katara pulled back a little bit, his arms were still around her, but their bodies were no longer pressed together.

“Do you want to talk?” she reached her arms up between them and cupped his face.

“I want to sleep,” Zuko said finally.

“Okay, okay let’s go to sleep.” Katara stood on her toes, pressing a kiss to his forehead and then leading him back to their room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter was a little expositional, I know not everyone has read the comics and I wasn't sure how to explain what happened to Ursa otherwise. Hope it was still interesting! 
> 
> Her story is basically cannon with the comics but I left out the face changing and forgetting and that whole spirit because Ummm I didn't want to write the spirit lmao. 
> 
> Also! I wanted to thank everyone who has been reading faithfully this whole time!!! All your comments and kudos mean the world to me and keep me motivated to figure out the next chapter <3 
> 
> In honor of 100 kudos: If anyone wants to find me on Tumblr and talk more hmu! my url is seriousxue and I would love 2 get more mutuals who like atla :)


	15. Chapter 15

This time, it was Katara with Sokka’s metal fan in her face. Better-Fan, as Sokka called it, had been upgraded and had added safety features (or so he claimed). Zuko still refused to test-run the metal deathtrap without Katara nearby, not trusting Sokka’s invention.

This time though it seemed to be working out, the fan did well against Zuko’s fire and Katara’s water, Sokka even had Toph throw some rocks at him to make sure the metal wouldn’t bend with the force of the earth. Zuko hated to admit it but the design was incredible, and, as Sokka pointed out at least fifty times, it also had a place to store snacks. “I don’t want Suki to starve to death,” he said when they asked what the purpose of the little compartment was, “she can keep seeds or berries in here.”

After hours of rigorous testing, Sokka deemed Better-Fan fit for the highest honor of belonging to a Kyoshi Warrior and Zuko and Katara were allowed to collapse, breathless, on Sokka’s couch.

“Okay, I’m going to go wrap it. I want to give it to her tonight.” Sokka smiled, looking at Better-Fan with pride, “this baby is going to hurt so many people.”

“you know I could have made that in minutes, right?” Toph was lying on the ground, her feet up against the wall.

“Yes, but it’s extra special because I made it for her with my own blood and sweat, and I added a secret ingredient even you can’t bend- “Sokka said,

“I can bend anything you throw at me,” Toph pointed her finger at him,

“I added _love,_ ” Sokka said in a sing-song voice before scampering away.

“Who would even want to bend _looveee_?” Toph groaned.

Suki and Korra arrived back together just as he left the room. Korra jumped up and landed across Zuko and Katara’s laps, causing them to gasp as the air was knocked out of them.

“I’m going to be in the play!” Korra announced loudly, “Love Amongst the Dragons”

“That’s great Korra, who are you playing?” Zuko asked, trying to gently push the child off of him without pushing her into onto the ground. She leaped up on her own, standing on the sofa between him and Katara.

“I am-- um, who am I?” she turned to Suki,

“You are one of the water spirits,” Suki said, smiling, “all the village kids are involved. It’s going to be really cute.”

“Who are the leads?” Zuko asked, pulling Korra down so she wasn’t standing precariously on the couch.

“Well, I’m going to be the Empress—” Suki said, blushing a little, “and they haven’t found the Emperor yet but the boy who played him last year might come back again. Sokka tried out but—and don’t tell him this -- he’s just not very good.” Suki laughed and sat next to Toph, pulling the earthbender’s hair and starting to braid it. Suki was the only person Toph let touch her hair and she took that honor very seriously.

“Well I can’t wait to see it,” Katara said, “Zuko has talked about the play so much.” Sokka returned to the group, winking at Zuko and Katara.

“Are we ready to go then?” He asked, staring at the group in the living room. 

They were meeting at his mother’s house to talk about what to do next. In the days since being reunited, Ursa had offered her help in supporting their mission and Zuko hated to admit that she might know things about the Avatar they did not- namely where Korra could learn air bending.

Only a few moments later, Korra was pulling his arm as she ran up to the herbalist’s house, the smell of fresh food already spilling out.

The house was small, but everyone fit comfortably around the table. Zuko ended up between Katara and Kiyi and he was glad that Kiyi being next to him meant she couldn’t glare at him as much without turning her head.

“Are you sure you didn’t see any sky bison when you were at any of the air temples?” Sokka asked Katara and Zuko for the fifth time that night,

“No Sokka, we didn’t. Or maybe we missed them, you know Sky Bison, famously tiny and easy to miss animals.” Katara rested her head on the table, they had been talking in circles for hours about how to find an Airbender to teach Korra. At this point, it just seemed pointless.

“What about that Chakra guy, the one that tried to help Aang master the avatar state”

“What guy?” Suki asked,

“You know, when Katara and Zuko were captured in Ba Sing Se and Aang had to go rescue them and then Zuko immediately betrayed us?” Sokka said, “the chakra guy!”

“I did not immediately betray you!” Zuko tried to defend himself,

“It’s okay man! If my sister was as scary as yours, I wouldn’t want to fight against her either.” Sokka shrugged,

“Your sister is as scary as mine,” Zuko said, Katara yawned and nodded in agreement.

“Is Azula really that scary?” Kiyi asked,

“Kiyi dear maybe you and Korra should go play outside,” Noren said, clearly a little uncomfortable with the conversations happening at his table.

“No! I want to listen! She’s my sister too.”

“Azula is probably the second most powerful firebender in the world.” Zuko said, “she is also probably the most dangerous firebender in the world.”

“How can she be the most dangerous if she’s only the second most powerful?” Kiyi asked. Zuko didn’t look at his mother, he still hadn’t told her much about how Azula changed after she left.

“She doesn’t have the control Ozai has. Azula doesn’t know when to stop.” Zuko said quietly. The table fell silent. Zuko noticed Sokka was playing with the food in front of him, pushing a chunk of potato back and forth on his plate. He looked uncomfortable, like they were stirring up memories he had tried to forget.

“I say we bring Korra up to a really tall tree and just shove her out, like a baby bird.” Toph said, “that way she will have to airbend or she will die.”

“Toph! We are not shoving Korra out of a tree!” Suki said, “besides Airbender’s don’t fly on their own, Aang always had his staff.”

“The thing is none of us know enough about airbending, Aang already knew how to do it so we never had to watch him learn,” Katara said, “I just don’t see how she can learn without a master of some sort.”

“I may be able to help,” Ursa said, “I have old texts written by Roku. Maybe he documented learning airbending.”

“That’s a great idea! I’ll help you look!” Katara sprung up and followed Ursa to the other room.

“Maybe Roku had something.” Sokka sighed.

“May I ask a question?” Noren was still sitting at the edge of the table.

“Of course!” Suki said.

“Aang was thirteen when he died.” Noren said, “Korra is only, what, eight? How long will you wait?”

Another pregnant silence fell over the room. Zuko glanced at Korra, she was busy playing with a cloth doll, not paying attention to what they were talking about.

“She shouldn’t have to face them at all, ever,” he said, “but we will wait as long as we can.”

“She won’t fight alone either,” Sokka added, “Aang didn’t want anyone else to fight his fight so he faced the Phoenix King alone. This isn’t her fight; we are dragging her into ours. We have to be there to protect her.” He looked fierce in the flickering lights, a rare moment of gravity from Sokka.

“Still,” Noren shook his head, “this whole situation is messed up.”

“I want to help fight!” Kiyi said, hitting her small fist on the table.

“No, we will help in other ways,” Noren said.

“But dad—”

“No,” Noren was sterner now, “I will not allow my child to die in this war.” Before Kiyi could protest, Ursa and Katara returned with armfuls of scrolls.

“Assigned reading,” Katara said, passing them out “these are all from Avatar Roku. Everyone read your scroll and next time we meet hopefully we will have more ideas.”

“Thank god I don’t have to do the homework,” Toph said, crossing her arms behind her head.

“And please be careful with them, they are very old,” Ursa said, sitting down next to Noren. He put his arm around her, and she leaned into him. Zuko wouldn’t have blinked twice if it were Jun and Miku or even Sokka and Suki, but seeing his mother so happy with a stranger upset him more than it should have.

“Mom, dad said I can’t help fight the Firelord,” Kiyi complained,

“Well dear if your father said no then I will not oppose him,” Ursa said, Kiyi sighed loudly and rolled her eyes.

“But mother- “

“The Firelord and the Phoenix king must not know you exist, dear, it is not safe.” Ursa said, “They will know how much you mean to me and hurt you as a way of getting revenge on me.”

_But you left me with them?_ Zuko thought, _was hurting me not enough?_ He hated himself for thinking it, nonetheless, a sour taste remained in his mouth for the rest of the night.

He was quiet for the rest of the night, Korra had fallen asleep so he carried her on his back up to their apartment, tucking her into bed before going to bed himself. Katara fell asleep quickly but Zuko stayed awake, staring out the little window above their bed at the stars above. He couldn’t get the bitter thoughts out of his head, why hadn’t he been enough for his mother to stay? Why hadn’t she sent a message or gone to look for him after she left? Was he so easy to forget?

He sighed and sat up, he felt as far from sleep as ever and didn’t want to bother Katara with his tossing and turning. He pulled on a cloak and left the apartment, wandering aimlessly around the village. The cool air felt nice on his face, the leaves on the trees were red and orange and many had fallen off the trees, signaling the end of the warm season. Zuko had seen a few clouds on the horizon earlier that day but now the stars were on full display, shining down on them.

It was well known that firebenders were weaker at night, their power came from the sun and when it was hidden there was less to draw from. But if Zuko focused on the stars in the sky he felt the warmth flow through his veins. He guessed stars must be made of the same stuff as the sun, maybe he could draw on their power.

He was so focused on looking at the stars that he hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going but eventually found himself outside Sokka and Suki’s house. One of the lights was in their bedroom. He thought about knocking on the door but didn’t want to disturb them.

Zuko sighed and turned away, walking towards the outskirts of town. The forest loomed in the distance but Zuko knew if he wasn’t careful, he could get lost. He felt lost, like there was no place for him in this or any other world. He felt out of place at the north pole, out of place on ember island, out of place in Hira’a.

“Couldn’t sleep?” A voice startled Zuko and he nearly screamed. He turned around and Suki stood in the street, trying not to laugh, “I saw you from our window. Wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

“Oh, um, yeah. I guess I just needed some air.” Zuko shrugged. They walked together in silence for a while, eventually sitting down on a rock overlooking the town.

“I hope everything is okay at home,” Suki said after a while.

“What?”

“you know what I mean, pretending to be married to Katara and all.”

“Oh, well, we only have to pretend in front of people so it’s not that hard.” Zuko said, glad it was dark enough that Suki couldn’t see him blushing, “why were you up? Is everything okay?”

Suki was quiet for a long time and Zuko wondered if he had asked something sensitive.

“It’s as okay as it gets,” Suki said, but Zuko sensed something more behind her words.

“You and Sokka aren’t fighting, are you?” Zuko felt anxious, if Sokka and Suki broke up he would be heartbroken.

“No, no not at all,” Suki pulled her knees up to her chest, “has Sokka told you anything about what happened after the war? When we lost and were in prison for all those years?”

“No, he won’t say anything,” Zuko said, “not even to Katara.”

“He still has nightmares about it, almost every night he wakes up in a panic.”

“What happened?”

“Even I don’t know the specifics of what happened to Sokka. He got the worst of it though, I was just in prison with the rest of the Kyoshi warriors for a while, on Boiling Rock again. Ty Lee and Mai were there too, truth be told it wasn’t all that bad.

Toph was taken to a forest and imprisoned in a tree thousands of feet above the ground so she couldn’t metal bend her way out, she hasn’t said much but I know that the worst part for her was not being able to see.”

“Where was Sokka?”

“He became Azula’s special prisoner. I don’t know exactly where he was, somewhere in the Fire Nation Capital, I think. She wanted to find you and Katara and thought that Sokka might be able to lead her there. I don’t know exactly what she did, but I know it really, really messed him up.”

They were silent for a while, watching as the sky turned to a deep purple and then began to lighten with the sun.

“Don’t tell Sokka I told you this and don’t tell Katara about it. He doesn’t want her to feel guilty or worry about him. I think he’s a little ashamed of his nightmares too.” Suki said finally.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Zuko replied, “but I won’t tell anyone.” They stood up and walked home, Zuko had all but forgotten his bitterness towards his mother. It was replaced with a refueled determination to end the war and the suffering, make sure Sokka didn’t suffer for nothing.

Katara was still asleep when he got back, she had sprawled out over the bed in his absence. He smiled and closed the door, instead choosing to fall asleep on the cushions on the ground, a beam of sunlight from the window falling on his face.

The next day, or rather, later that day, the tea shop was busier than usual, a traveling merchant troupe was going through town and stopped for lunch and to advertise their wares. Sokka hung around all day, listening eagerly to what they were selling and haggling down the price of scarves and a new belt for his sword. He also managed to find someone to make a custom leather hilt for Better-Fan. Zuko kept glancing at him, noticing for the first-time circles under his eyes and the frequency of his yawns.

He began to work on a tea that might help Sokka sleep, he could give it to Suki to give to him and Sokka would never have to know. Maybe he could use it too. He wished there was a tea that made him stop thinking for a day. Or a tea that could kill Ozai. Or a tea that could make Azula come to her senses. Uncle seemed to think that tea could solve any problem but try as he might Zuko hadn’t found a problem tea _could_ solve.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: there's a fair amount of blood in this chapter + childbirth  
> I broke up the chapter so if you don't want to read about the actual birth you can skip ahead when it gets gross to the next part without missing important plot stuff :)

Finally, the sun began to set, the tea shop emptied out and it was just Zuko, Katara, and Korra in the dining room. Zuko was wiping down the last of the tables, Korra was practicing mud-bending, something she had come up with that combined earth and water bending. Zuko sighed, designating the table she was sitting at to be the last he would clean.

Katara was at a different table, silently eating some fruit and reading one of Avatar Roku’s scrolls.

“Anything good?” Zuko asked, lifting the fruit tray to wipe down the table beneath it.

“You look tired.”

“Did Roku mention learning airbending?”

“Where did you go last night?” Katara was staring at him, unblinking, as he wiped the table over and over again.

“For a walk,” he said tersely, “I hope I didn’t disturb you.” He sounded more upset than he was, he wasn’t upset at all, but he couldn’t keep the bitter edge out of his voice. Katara said nothing. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He sat down across from her and tossed the rag onto the table, leaning back in the chair.

“Does it have to do with your mother?” Katara asked, she gingerly rolled up the scroll and set it down, pushing the fruit plate towards him. Zuko grabbed a piece of cut pear, using it as an excuse to formulate his thoughts before speaking.

“I feel like…” how could he tell Katara he was bitter that his mother was _happy. A_ fter the Fire Nation had taken her own mother away how could he be so ungrateful? He hadn’t even realized he trailed off.

“You know, when we found my dad, before the Day of Black Sun, I hadn’t seen him in years. He went to fight in the war, he left Sokka and me to take care of the village,” Katara said, watching Korra like she was remembering herself as a young child of the Southern Water tribe, “we were reunited with him after that fight at Ba Sing Se. All that time I didn’t know if he was alive or dead, I didn’t know where he was or what was going on. I blamed the fire nation for taking him away, but I also blamed him for leaving.” Katara smiled bitterly, “I was angry at him, I barely spoke to him for weeks. Sokka was glad to have him back and I was too but I couldn’t get past how upset I was that he left us. I knew he had to leave too which made me feel even worse.”

Zuko didn’t know what to say, that’s exactly how he was feeling.

“I bet it’s weird seeing your mom with another kid,” Katara said, “it’s okay to be upset Zuko.” She reached over the table and caught his hand in hers, “and don’t think you have to deal with it alone okay?”

Before he could respond the door flew opened and Jun ran in, his face was full of panic.

“Miku….” He panted, “please, help.”

“What’s wrong?” Katara asked, standing up and walking over to him,

“I don’t know, something’s wrong with the baby. She’s bleeding so much…she isn’t supposed to give birth for two more months. Ursa is out of town please, I don’t know what to do,” Jun let out a dry sob. Katara sprang into action,

“Korra, go upstairs and get all the clean cloth you can find and then meet us at Uncle Jun’s house okay?” She guided Korra to the stairs, then Zuko and Katara followed Jun to his house.

Sophie and Micah were in the main room, clutching each other. Zuko recognized the fear on their faces, knowing your parent was in pain and there was nothing you could do about it. Katara pushed past into the bedroom. The bed was drenched with blood, Miku lay in the middle, her face covered in sweat. Katara ran over to her side and began to assess the situation. Jun went to his wife’s side, gently stroking her head as she cried out in pain.

“Can you help her?” Jun asked, “I know you haven’t been learning healing for very long, but I don’t know what to do.”

Korra ran up and before she could enter the room Zuko blocked the door, grabbed the towels and told Korra to take Sophie and Micah to Sokka’s house. He handed the rags to Katara and went to get a basin of water.

“I can…” Katara looked at Jun and Miku, then glanced at Zuko. He realized with a sinking feeling that she could help but it would reveal she was a water bender.

“Do what you have to do,” Zuko said, Katara nodded with determination. She ignored the water in the basin Zuko retrieved and instead pulled her canteen of spirit water out from her skirt.

She lifted the water and it moved over Miku’s distended belly, Zuko had never seen anyone give birth before but guessed this probably wasn’t going the way it should.

“The baby is alive, it’s in there but I think…I don’t know if it can stay for long. I think it’s coming today.”

“What? What are you doing? Today?” Miku’s questions were cut short as she cried out again.

“Yes, it’s okay, I think I can…I can help both of you. Just relax okay?” Katara lifted the blanket covering Miku and seconds later Miku’s face relaxed, Zuko guessed Katara was helping with the pain a lot.

“Okay there’s a lot of bleeding but you can do this okay. I’m going to help guide the baby, so you need to relax.”

Zuko felt useless standing in the corner. He busied himself by running back and forth bringing Katara clean water to clean up the blood and fresh towels. He also was able to quickly heat up the water, helping Miku take sips at a time. After what felt like an eternity, Katara reemerged from under the blanket. Her brow was sweaty, and her hands and arms covered in blood. She used the back of her arm to push a strand of hair out of her eyes.

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked,

“I’ve never seen a baby this small- “Katara said, “How are you doing Miku?”

“I feel----” Miku trailed off, her eyelids fluttering shut,

“No no, stay with us, baby! It’s okay!” Jun gently nudged her, wiping her face with a warm towel and giving her more water,

“Make sure she doesn’t fall asleep,” Katara said, she turned to Zuko, “come down here, I need another pair of hands,” Zuko nodded, kneeling at the foot of the bed next to Katara.

He could see a tiny head, “is it supposed to be that small?” he whispered, Katara guided his hands so they were right where the baby was emerging from. He could hear his heart beating in his chest.

“No, it’s not.” Katara used more water around the head, “Okay Miku I need you to push really hard okay? It’s almost here! Just push!”

Miku screamed (Zuko might have also screamed) as the baby was pushed further into the world.

“Wait, am I supposed to catch it?” panic seeped into his voice,

“Obviously,” Katara snapped, “I’m using the water to help it out a bit when the head comes out make sure there’s nothing around its neck.”

“What would be around the neck?” Zuko looked closer, trying to figure out how far out the head was. With a final scream and push from Miku, the baby spilled into Zuko’s hands. It was slippery and slimy and warm. He checked the neck, clear. It was so small it fit almost entirely in one of Zuko’s hands. He cupped the small baby gently, “the neck is ok, now what?” he asked, noticing something trailing back into Miku, “what is that?”

“Don’t worry about it right now,” Katara said, she looked at the infant and made sure it was breathing, “give Miku the baby.”

Zuko stood up gingerly holding the baby, it moved slightly but did not cry out. Jun was shaking Miku vigorously -- she was unconscious. 


	17. Chapter 17

“Katara- “ Zuko looked between the unconscious Miku and the baby in his arms, not sure which one to focus on.

“She’s not moving!” Jun called out, Katara looked up,

“It’s okay! Keep her warm. She lost a lot of blood, here, give me the baby.”

Zuko obliged, cleaning his hands and grabbing a few clean cloths while Katara got rid of the cord and gently cleaned the baby. She handed it back to Zuko and he wrapped it in the cloths,

“Is the baby okay?” Jun was craning his neck, Zuko nodded,

“He’s going to be fine!” Katara said, she sounded encouraging but Zuko could tell she was worried about Miku, “just make sure he’s warm for now.”

“Him? It’s a boy?” Jun asked,

  
"Yep,” Zuko warmed his hands slightly, the baby gasped a little, the smallest of ‘coos’ coming out of his tiny mouth. Zuko couldn’t believe a person could be so small. He held the baby while Katara healed Miku, finally helping Jun carry her to Sophie’s clean bed. Jun sat with her and Zuko handed him the baby. Jun’s eyes swelled with tears at the sight of his son,

“Is she going to be okay?” Jun asked, his voice hoarse. Katara was leaning on the doorway, her face covered in sweat and her arms covered in blood.

“Yes. She just needs to rest for a while. The baby too, he’s very early and will need a lot of help to survive these first few months.”

“Wait you can heal with water…” Jun stared at them with wide eyes, “who are you?”

“I’m a water bender,” Katara said, “from the Southern Water tribe. I can heal with bending, so I used some sacred spirit water to help Miku and your baby, I’m sorry we lied to you.”

“You saved my wife and child’s lives; you could be the banished prince of the Fire Nation for all I care,” Zuko and Katara exchanged glances, but Jun didn’t notice. He was smiling gingerly down at his son. “I won’t pry further; your secret is safe with us. “

“You have shown us so much kindness. I’m just glad they are going to be okay.”

Miku stirred gently, her eyes fluttering open, “what happened?” she asked, looking around, “is this Sophie's room?”

“My dearest you are incredible,” Jun kissed Miku’s forehead gingerly, “this is our son.” He placed the baby on Miku’s chest, and her hands came up to cup him gingerly, she let out a quick laugh, her face almost overtaken with a smile.

“Our son,” she repeated, looking back up and kissing Jun. He wrapped his arm around them, and she rested her head back against his chest. Zuko didn’t want to intrude and went to begin cleaning up their bedroom. Most of the bedding was so blood-soaked he wasn’t sure it could be cleaned, he put it in a sack to be washed and found some clean bedding. Katara had left to clean herself up, she came back looking tired.

“We just delivered a baby,” She smiled, Zuko couldn’t help but smile back and soon they were both laughing and hugging, the adrenaline not yet worn off.

They moved Jun, Miku, and baby back into the big bed and Katara made sure Miku was going to be okay, “rest a lot okay? The same goes for this little guy, lots of sleep. If you need anything at all, please come get me.

“Thank you, thank you so much,” Miku grabbed Katara’s hand, squeezing it.

“What are you going to call him?” Zuko asked. Jun and Miku exchanged glances,

“We hadn’t thought about it yet! We weren’t expecting him for two more months, oh dear we don’t have anything ready!”

“It’s okay, take your time. Lee and I are here if you need anything.” Katara smiled and leaned against Zuko. He assumed it was mostly because she herself was exhausted.

“Oh, can you retrieve our children for us?” Jun asked, “I don’t know where they went.”

“It’s okay, we can take care of them for the night,” Zuko smiled and put his arm around Katara to support her, “we’ll bring them around later tomorrow. You two just worry about yourselves and figuring out a name for the little guy.”

“Thank you, thank you so much.” Jun’s eyes glistened again as he looked at his wife and youngest son.

Zuko and Katara walked slowly to Sokka’s house, “Can we just leave them there tonight?” Katara asked, standing outside the door. It was too late though, the door burst open and Sophie and Micah rushed up.

“Is our mom okay?” Sophie asked. Korra followed along with Sokka.

“She’s fine,” Katara smiled, lifting Micah up, “you have a new little brother though.”

“She had the baby!?” Sophie smiled, “I want to go see!” she took off running but Zuko caught her before she could get too far,

“Tomorrow. Your mom is very tired right now, you two can come have a sleepover.” Zuko said, Sophie smiled and ran back to hug Korra,

“Korra I have a new baby brother! I can introduce you later. You can meet him too and be friends with him! Maybe you can even hold him. Have you ever held a baby before?” Sophie asked rapid-fire questions that Korra was somehow able to keep up with, and the girls skipped down the street towards the apartment.

“Are they okay? Isn’t it early?” Sokka asked,

“They are fine, but now Jun knows I’m a water bender,” Katara said,

“It’s okay though, they don’t know anything else and are just grateful that mom and baby are safe,” Zuko added quickly before Sokka could freak out,

“Where’s Suki?” Katara asked,

“She’s asleep already. Been really tired lately.” Sokka didn’t meet their eyes and Zuko sensed a bit of guilt.

“We should go back too, Korra and Sophie are already almost home,” Zuko said before Katara could ask any more questions, Sokka shot him a thankful look and they all headed home.

“You were incredible back there,” Zuko said as he and Katara put Micah to bed. Sophie and Korra were heard giggling from Korra’s room, they would probably be awake most of the night but Zuko didn’t have the heart to tell them to go to sleep.

“I mean, it’s not my first time delivering a baby,” Katara said, “I helped lots of women back at the South Pole.”

“You mean when you were like, twelve?”

“Yeah,” Katara laughed, “I guess so.”

“Incredible,” Zuko repeated. Katara smiled at him. The fact that he ever thought he was better than her shocked him, Katara is and always has been leagues ahead of him.

“Are you okay? We never finished our conversation earlier.” She asked, sitting back on the small couch and watching Micah quietly sleep on some cushions on the floor. Zuko sat next to her and she rested her head on his shoulder.

“You were right, about everything that I’m feeling,” he said, “I want to talk to my mother, but it just seems so wrong. I shouldn’t be mad that she’s happy with her new family I’m just upset she wasn’t as happy with me, but who would be. Azula and Ozai are insane, politics are awful, she also had to leave behind the man she loves to have kids with my father. I can’t compete with Kiyi and it’s stupid to compare myself to a thirteen-year-old. It probably just takes time, right?” Katara didn’t answer and when he looked down, he saw she was fast asleep. He smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. He would talk to his mother later, he decided.

He remained awake for a long time, thinking about the new life in the world just a little way over. Bringing a child into this war-torn world had seemed like a bad idea to Zuko, but seeing Jun and Miku and the way they loved their children how could he blame them?

He wanted to rebuild the world for them, for all the kids in the town. He wanted a new world for Korra and Sophie, Micah and his new baby brother, he had to defeat his father and sister, even if he died trying.


	18. Chapter 18

"I would feel better if I went with you- “Zuko said, passing Katara her bag. She was in the back of Jun’s cart, Miku and the new baby already settled in.

“It’s just three days,” Katara said, “we will be fine.”

“Besides, someone needs to run the shop while I’m gone!” Jun clapped Sokka on the back, “don’t worry I’ll have your wife back before you can even miss her.” Zuko forced a smile. Jun, Miku, and all three of their children were going away for a while, visiting her parents in a nearby village that had more healers and a better place for Miku and baby to recover. Katara was worried about Miku and the baby traveling so soon and insisted on accompanying them.

“One and a half days there, one and a half days back.” She promised, lifting Sophie and Micah into the back and helping them sit down near their mom.

“Why can’t Korra come with us?” Sophie whined,

“Because you need to be with your family now. Don’t worry, Korra will be waiting for you when you get back.” Katara ruffled the child’s hair, she just huffed.

Katara sat on the edge next to where Zuko was standing, “talk to your mother,” she urged him.

“I can talk to her in three days after we come back safely together.” 

“I can handle myself thank you very much.” Katara said indignantly, “I don’t need a chaperone.”

“I’m not worried about you,” Zuko said, “what am I supposed to do here alone?”

“You guys are so sweet.” Jun said, throwing his arm around both of them, “I bet you haven’t been separated since you got married.”

“Not much no,” Katara smiled, “but it’ll be good for you.” Zuko sighed, there was no convincing her. Three days, he thought, since when had he become so dependent?

“Okay, be safe and hurry back,” he said as Katara hugged him. He noticed Miku and Jun watching them so when she pulled away Zuko pulled her into a kiss. She smiled as they broke away,

“You be safe too. Don’t get into too much trouble.” She kissed his cheek before sitting back in the cart. Jun mounted the large puma-goat and they rode away, Zuko lifted Korra onto his shoulders so she could watch them disappear over the horizon.

“Now what?” Korra asked. 

“Great question. What do you want to do?”

“I want to practice fighting!”

“Okay, let’s go see if Sifu Toph wants to do some cross-training,” Zuko said, setting her down gently. Korra smiled, grabbing his hand and dragging him to Sokka’s house. Maybe getting some rocks thrown at him would do Zuko good, he thought, and he was less likely to run into his mother outside of town. 

They had a typical spot to bend near the river, Toph liked it for the large number of rocks, Korra liked it for the water and Zuko didn’t have a preference. The three of them stood in a triangle.

“Ready T?” Zuko asked Toph nudged her foot forward and a wall of dirt flew towards Korra. She punched the rocks as they came until they had all disintegrated into dust, the last one was followed by one of Zuko’s fireballs, which Korra dove out of the way of. It fell uselessly on the river and simmered away.

“Good, but next time try and bend it back, remember the basics, make their offense your offense,” he pulled up a whip of flame that he lashed towards Korra’s feet. She leaped into the air and flipped back, the water of the river coming up to catch her. It swirled around her feet, pushing her ten-twenty feet up.

Out of nowhere, a rudimentary wooden boomerang flew out of the trees at Korra. She dodged it but it distracted her enough that she lost her balance and the water fell, taking her with it. Toph took this opportunity and sent a pile of rocks forward to catch Korra, sealing her in.

Korra burst free, sending the rocks back at Zuko and Toph. Zuko looked around and saw Sokka and Suki hidden behind a bush, Sokka had another boomerang ready to throw.

Korra was ready this time though, causing the latest projectile to catch on fire and sending it back to the bush where Sokka and Suki lay, lighting the foliage ablaze. She flipped back into the water, it swallowed her for a moment then she burst out, the water pushed her up then froze around her, it was as if she was wearing thick armor made of ice. 

She stepped out of the river and Zuko felt the earth shake.

“I AM THE ICE KING!” Korra screamed, Zuko stepped back in awe, bracing himself for the attack. She was now taller than he was, her tiny face visible almost four feet above his head. Korra pulled her arm back, readying it to punch. Zuko prepared himself and leaped up as it came towards him, landing on the ice and pulling himself up her arm until he was sitting on her shoulders. Korra tried to swat him off but he held on tightly, trying to melt the ice with his hands.

In one second Korra freed herself from the ice, leaping forward and landing on the water. In another second, she unfroze the ice, and Zuko fell ten feet into the water, drenched. He spluttered for a moment before emerging and crawling onto shore.

“Wow, I really am a great teacher,” Toph said proudly,

“Did you teach her that?” Sokka asked, emerging from behind the burning bush.

“Obviously! Who else would teach her something so cool,”

“Fair enough.” Sokka sat on a tree branch, Suki leaning on it next to him. Zuko pushed himself to his feet, taking off his outer vest and hanging it to dry on a nearby branch. He rang out his hair and was about to unlace his shoes to get the water out when Korra tackled him back into the water.

He gasped for air, his arms flailing wildly as he tried to find purchase but only hit the icy water. Korra rolled off him and the water raised again, this time taking Zuko with it. He stared at Korra in shock,

“What are you doing?” he asked,

“What you taught me! The element of surprise!” Korra beamed. She let him fall, this time on the grass, where he once again had to stand up and begin drying off.

“Alright, you won that round kid avatar,” Zuko said, he couldn’t very well be angry at Korra, but he could be upset with Toph, who was laughing nearby. Zuko lurched forward and picked her up, body-slamming her into the water too.

“How does it feel now oh mighty metal bender?” Zuko asked. Toph yelped, and with a flick of her wrist, Zuko was encased in rock.

“Hey, aren’t you two supposed to be teaching _Korra_ how to fight?” Suki asked, Sokka was sitting on the grass now in front of her and she was braiding his hair.

“You’re right,” Toph said, not releasing Zuko.

“A little help here?” He called out, Toph shrugged. Zuko looked hopelessly at Korra but she was gone, a trail of kid-sized footsteps led away from the grove. “Wait where’s Korra?”

Toph let him go and they followed the footsteps in the grass deeper into the woods, to a place Zuko had never seen before. There was a large pool of water surrounded by trees. It was almost a perfect circle and looked shallow enough to stand in, Zuko saw a few fish swimming in the pond. Korra was standing at the edge of the water motionless.

“Hey! Don’t run off like that, you scared us.” Zuko said, approaching her. Korra turned around and she looked like she had seen a ghost, “are you okay?”

“I don’t like this place,” she said, “it feels wrong.”

“Okay…” Zuko looked around, it felt like a pristine forest to him. Quiet, calm, peaceful. But Korra was obviously bothered so he grabbed her hand and they returned to the clearing from before.

“I’m getting tired, let’s call it a day okay?”

“Okay,” Korra said, looking over her shoulder towards the pond. They returned to the village and ate dinner at the only restaurant in town, owned by a kind old woman named Yu.

Zuko hadn’t noticed when they arrived, but Ursa, Noren, and Kiyi were at another table. Once he did see them, he tried to avoid looking at them but Sokka also saw and called them over.

“Come join us!” he said, pushing two tables together, much to Yu’s disapproval. Kiyi ended up across from Zuko but she didn’t seem as hostile as before.

“Where is Katara?” Ursa asked. Zuko explained Miku’s birth story and their trip to the nearby village.

“I heard about that; she is lucky Katara is so talented. I doubt I could have done as much, giving birth is not an easy thing, especially so early.” Ursa said, “All of my children arrived early, but only by a week or so.”

“Did you see it happen?” Kiyi asked him, Zuko nodded, “I was the first person to hold the baby.” Her jaw dropped,

“I bet it was really gross right? I saw some of mother’s pictures once when I was looking around her library.” Kiyi shuddered, “I had nightmares for weeks.”

“What does it look like?” Toph asked,

“Just be grateful you can’t see.” Sokka said, “and I’m trying really hard to eat here so maybe let’s talk about something else?”

“Yes, like how Kiyi was looking in the library where she was not supposed to look?” Noren said, peering over his dish. Kiyi sighed,

“It’s called learning _dad_ , I’m not staying here forever so I have to learn about the outside world,” she turned to Zuko, “I bet she let _you_ go into the library at my age.” _I was given a ship and sent on a fool’s mission with one eye at your age,_ Zuko thought, but before he could reply Ursa interjected,

“You can read dear, just stay away from the gross stuff.” Kiyi rolled her eyes and turned to Suki.

“I heard you used to be a Kyoshi warrior!”

“Where did you hear that?” Suki laughed, Kiyi looked pointedly at Sokka. Suki cast him a quick glare then turned back to Kiyi, “I still am a Kyoshi warrior,” she whispered seriously, Kiyi’s eyes went wide.

“What was the island of Kyoshi like? I saw a picture once of the statue. I want to visit there someday.”

“Well, there’s not much left now.” Suki said, glancing at Zuko, he felt bad that he had almost forgotten burning her village down, “fire can be a dangerous thing when your village is made of wood.”

“Someone burnt it down?” Kiyi leaned forward so far, her hair fell into her soup.

“Kiyi sit back!” Noren said, he was too far away otherwise Zuko guessed he would have pushed her into her seat, “and don’t ask such personal questions.”

“No, it’s okay,” Suki said, pushing Kiyi’s hair back, “unfortunately there was a really hot-headed angry firebender who came and burnt it down.”

“Who could do something like that?”

“He was trying to catch the avatar and had terrible control over his emotions. Just a really, mean guy.”

“What did you do?” Kiyi sat back but Zuko could tell she was only hovering over her seat.

“Well, what could we do? We had to protect the avatar. So, we beat him up really bad, he never tried to mess with me again,” Suki winked at Zuko. He was glad she didn’t seem to hold the burning-her-village down against him. He did rescue her from prison so maybe they were even. She glanced over at Sokka, who hadn’t been listening but instead was stuffing rice in his face with food.

“And I met this doofus, so I guess it all ended up okay.” She added, nodding towards Sokka.

“What?” He asked, rice spilling out of his mouth.

“Nothing dear, just telling Kiyi about the day we met.” Suki pushed his face away from her.

Sokka swallowed and nodded, “The best day of my life. You know, aside from when we sprung you from prison, and when we ran into you on the way to Ba Sing Se, and that day with you at the beach- “

“They get it Sokka,” Suki shoved a dumpling into his mouth to shut him up, “I love you too.”

After dinner, they began walking back but Ursa tugged gently on Zuko’s sleeve.

“Walk with me,” She said.

“Um, sure, okay,” Zuko asked Suki and Sokka to take Korra home and wait for him there, promising to return quickly, then followed his mother away from the main road. 

Zuko followed her towards a new part of town he had never seen before. In the distance was a building made almost entirely of glass and full of plants.

Inside the building, the air was crisp and cool. Ursa looked at the plants individually, gently watering a few of them. Zuko stood in the entrance, shifting his weight from foot to foot, not sure what to say.

“Zuko we haven’t gotten the chance to speak, just us,” Ursa said, “There are some things I wanted to tell you.” She looked sad; her face illuminated by the full moon. Katara would be powerful tonight, Zuko thought, he wished he could draw on the moon’s strength for this conversation. He said nothing

“I…I should have never left you alone,” She said finally, turning to face him. Zuko didn’t know what to say, he agreed with her.

“You did what you had to do,” he said, his words falling flat without conviction to give them power. Ursa turned towards a plant, a tall white flower.

“Do you know what this flower is?” She asked, Zuko stepped forward but shook his head, “this is a very dangerous flower, if prepared correctly it can become an odorless untraceable poison. Do you know how your grandfather died?”

“He was ill.” Zuko said, stepping back, the flower scared him, but his mother’s words scared him more, “right?”

“He consumed a deadly amount of this poison.”

“What- “

“Your father killed him, but I made the poison that he used.”

“Why?” Zuko stared at the flower, trying to reconcile the truth with the narrative he had always known. 

“Your father wanted the throne but Azulon would not give it to him unless he killed you, his firstborn. That was our deal, I gave him a way to the throne in exchange for your life.” Ursa smiled bitterly.

“Then why did you leave?”

“Your father knew I could create a deadly poison, he feared I would kill him too. I had to leave otherwise you and Azula would be in danger.” Ursa sighed, “I want you to know that it was the worst decision I’ve ever made, but that isn’t enough to apologize for all the pain I’ve caused you, my son.”

“Mom- “Zuko choked, feeling guilty for all the bitterness he felt. She was hurt by his father just as much as he had been- maybe even more.

“Mothers protect their children and I thought that’s what I was doing but you- I failed you son. And Azula, I’ve failed her a thousand times over. I should have fulfilled Ozai’s fears and killed him along with his father.”

“No, no it’s not your fault,” Zuko said, surprised at the sharpness in her voice. Ursa stepped forward, grabbing his arms firmly,

“Zuko I love you. I love you so much, I thought about you every single day. I thought about going back, trying to find you. I thought about sending letters to apologize for failing you but anything I said would just fall short. I did not dare believe your father would hurt you like this, but I was naïve and stupid,” she gently touched the scar on his face, “I am so proud of you.”

“I-- I thought of you every day. Father never told me what happened, Azula might have known but she…her madness has taken over.”

“Don’t worry about them right now, one day I will pay dearly for how I treated Azula. I love her too, but I never worried about her the way I did for you.”

“I…I’m sorry mother,” Zuko broke out of her arms and turned away, hoping to hide the tears that had begun to well in his eyes.

“You have nothing to be sorry for- “Ursa said gently,

“I was bitter and angry, I was jealous, and it was unfair,” Zuko stepped away from her, “I saw you with Noren and Kiyi and didn’t see where I fit into the picture anymore. Kiyi is so similar to Noren it’s no wonder you look at her with such love. I resemble my father- I can’t imagine what you must think when you see me.”

“Zuko- “she choked back a sob, she reached for him again, but he stepped back, guarded. “Zuko when I look at you, I see only love, I see none of the hate and anger that ruled your father’s face, I see only love and compassion I feel nothing but pride. I’m so sorry I made you feel otherwise.” She clung to him tightly, Zuko finally returned the hug, crying into her shoulder. She pulled away and gently wiped the tears off his face, smiling at him.

“Do you know what else I see in you?” she asked, “I see a leader. I see the man who will save the world, I see the future Firelord.”

“Firelord?”

“Of course,” She smiled, “I want no one else to rule our kingdom. I want no one else to be an example for Kiyi. She is strong but I see the same edges I saw in Azula, you are strong and compassionate. You will bring peace and right your ancestors' wrongs.”

Zuko stepped back again, he hadn’t thought about being Firelord for years. He had all but abandoned the idea. He felt the pressure building, now he had to end the war _and_ rebuild the nation. Along with the pressure, though, there was excitement, he could build a better world. He could create the world he wanted Miku and Jun’s children to grow up in. Maybe someday he would feel comfortable having children of his own.

“It’s getting late. We should return home.” Ursa said, looking up at the moon. Zuko nodded, following her out of the greenhouse. It had begun to rain softly but Zuko worried the clouds overhead had moved in far too quickly and it would only rain harder. Despite the pressure of being Firelord now hanging over him, Zuko felt at peace finally. He felt like he could try and rebuild the relationship with his mother, build a relationship with Kiyi.

“You know,” Ursa said as they reentered the village, “A Firelord marrying someone from, say, a water tribe would be a powerful union.” Zuko looked at her in shock, the corners of her mouth turned up.

“I don’t know what you mean, besides, Sokka is in a relationship.” Zuko tried to make a joke to undercut how the thought of marrying Katara made his heart flutter.

“I finally was able to be happy with the man I love. You deserve the same, don’t let fear hold you back from being happy with her.” She smiled before leaving him at his doorstep.

When he got upstairs Sokka and Suki were sitting on the floor and it looked like they were stabbing each other with needles. Korra was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s going on? Where is Korra?” Zuko glanced in her room and saw the little avatar fast asleep, “so that answers that,” he closed her door gently, turning back to his friends. “So, what are you doing?” Suki was stabbing Sokka’s arm above his bicep and he had her ankle in his lap,

“We are giving each other tattoos,” Sokka said, not looking up.

“You’re _what?_ ”

“Sokka bought some ink from those merchants that came through here the other day!” Suki smiled, “so we are giving each other tattoos. Do you want one?”

“You trust Sokka to draw something on you? Permanently?” Zuko peered over, Suki was tattooing the water tribe symbol onto Sokka’s bicep in black ink. It looked really good. He peered over at her ankle but couldn’t make out what the squiggly lines were supposed to be.

“What…what is that?” he asked,

“Its Kyoshi!” Sokka said proudly, sitting back. Zuko looked closer but still could only barely make out eyes and a mouth, nothing like the warrior Avatar, “do you mind if we stay until we are done?”

“No, by all means, carry on. Just don’t expect Katara to heal you when it gets infected.”

“We cleaned the needle first, don’t worry so much. I bet you would look good with a tattoo too, maybe a dragon or a flame.”

“I have enough body modifications thank you,” Zuko rolled his eyes, “but I’m glad you two are having fun.”

“How was the talk with your mom?” Suki asked, returning her attention to Sokka, “I swear if you keep moving this is going to look bad!” she grabbed his arm forcefully, holding it in place with her free leg.

“It was fine” Zuko didn’t know what else to say, “she told me that she poisoned my grandfather.”

“Like with medicine?”

“No Sokka, like with poison,” Zuko missed Katara. He wanted to talk to her about this, hear her thoughts on him becoming Firelord. He thought about what his mother said, about not wasting time, _when she gets back_ , he decided, _I’m going to tell her how I feel._

“Hey, flame-guy, what are you thinking about?” Sokka asked,

“Katara,” Zuko said before he had a chance to stop himself. He felt his face turn red as Suki and Sokka both stopped to stare at him.

“Oh?” Suki smiled knowingly, “anything we should know about?”

“No, nothing. Forget I said anything.” Zuko grabbed a pillow and buried his face in it. Sokka and Suki laughed,

“Dude we all know you two have something going on.” Sokka said, “I mean you act real-married when you don’t even have to act fake-married.”

“We do not!”

“You two act more married in private than Sokka and I do,” Suki said, pointing her ink needle at him, “I’m surprised you haven’t started officially dating yet.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Stay as long as you want but I’m going to bed.” Zuko stood up, tossing the pillow aside and leaving for his room, “and for the record—it’s easier to keep up the act if we always act married. You never know who could be watching.”

“Sure buddy, if that’s what helps you feel better.” Sokka rolled his eyes, Zuko closed the door in his face.

  


It felt like he had only been asleep for moments when he was awoken by three things happening at once. First, a bolt of lightning illuminated the whole room, its crack echoing throughout the town. Second, his bedroom door burst open, and third, Sokka was yelling for him to wake up.

“What’s wrong what’s going on?” Zuko sat up, rubbing his eyes. Sokka stood in the doorway, panic written all over his face. Zuko felt a chill run down his spine, his heart almost stopping when Sokka spoke.

“Korra’s gone!”

  



	19. Chapter 19

Zuko shot up, barely grabbing his shirt and shoes before pushing past Sokka and looking into Korra’s room. Her sheets were tossed aside but the bed was empty.

“What happened?” Zuko froze, not sure what to do.

“Suki and I fell asleep on your floor, when we woke up we noticed her door was open and went to close it. That’s when we saw she was gone.” Sokka said, “Her shoes and coat are gone too- “

“How did you not miss her leaving? You were asleep on the floor! She must have had to walk over you!” Zuko shouted,

“You're right but yelling at me won't find her! The rain is pouring it's not safe for her out there, Suki already went to get Toph.”

They pounded down the stairs, Zuko’s eyes searched the darkness for any clues as to which way she might have gone. Suki and Toph were outside already.

"How did you lose a kid like that?" Toph asked, yawning, and tying her hair back. Sokka ignored her,

“Suki and I will search the village, you two go into the woods. It’s dark so you will have to rely on Toph to see,” he said. They all nodded, no time to waste discussing a detailed plan, and took off running.

“Follow me and try to keep up!” Toph yelled, her feet pounding on the wet mud. In the seconds since they had stepped outside Zuko was drenched and freezing, he wished he had grabbed a blanket for Korra when they found her but there was no time. Besides he had no way of keeping it dry in the torrential downpour.

The trees loomed above them, dark and menacing. Zuko’s eyes continued to scan but the only thing he saw was shadows in the dark rain. They ran into the forest, his hand brushed against something, it was a ribbon from Korra’s hair. She was in the forest.

“Stay close” Toph shouted, she stopped and steadied herself, feeling the dirt, “I think she’s that way!” he had no time to ask how she knew, he just had to trust her.

They ran further into the forest, despite being there countless times all the trees seemed different, like they had rearranged themselves in the night. Zuko immediately had no way of knowing which way lead out, he had no choice but to trust Toph as she ran further and further into the darkness.

“There are two people ahead, I think one is Korra!” Toph said after a few moments of blind running. Zuko almost toppled into her but stopped in time. He looked ahead, summoning a small flame and covering it with one hand to protect it from the rain.

“I don’t see anything,” Zuko said,

“Me either but I know she’s over there.” Toph pointed, “come on!” They walked a few more paces and Zuko realized they were back at the circle pool Korra had been to earlier. This time though it did not seem like the serene oasis from before, the rain pounded on the water violently and the wind howled around like a sad song.

Finally, Zuko could make out two small figures, illuminated by a small flame in the bigger one's hands. He rushed forward,

“Korra!” He shouted, realizing the smaller of the figures was indeed the Avatar. She was lying in the dirt, half covered in mud. A glowing blue light came out of her mouth and eyes. Zuko let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding- she was alive. The larger figure was Kiyi, kneeling over Korra and trying to keep a small flame ablaze.

“What are you doing here?” Zuko shouted over the rain, Kiyi looked terrified,

“I don’t know what happened to her! I saw her walk into the forest from my window and thought it was dangerous, so I followed- then I found her here just like this!”

“I think she’s in the spirit world- “Zuko said, “I don’t know if we can move her.”

“She can’t stay here! The pond is filling up! She will drown!” Kiyi shouted, Zuko looked around feeling helpless. Then, the earth began to move around Korra until a dam had been built protecting her from the rising water. The earth continued to grow, forming a dome above them and shielding them from the rain. Toph stood in the middle, holding up her hands.

Zuko summoned a flame to his hand, feeding it until it was bright enough to illuminate the whole space, they were in. Korra remained unmoved but the mud receded around her. It wasn't an ideal decision but she would be okay. 

“Toph that’s great!” Zuko said,

“What does that mean? What's the spirit world? Is she okay?” Kiyi asked, still kneeling over Korra.

“She'll be fine, it’s an Avatar thing. It’s easier for her spirit to find its way back to her body if we don’t move her though.” Zuko said, the ground around them was still wet but Zuko was able to find some mostly dry sticks and lit a small fire under the roof Toph had made.

“Toph you should go back and tell Sokka and Suki we found her. I’ll wait here for her to wake up then go back to the village.”

“You can’t find your way back on your own- “Toph pointed out,

“It’s okay I’ll figure it out. You two just go.”

“I’m not leaving.” Kiyi said stubbornly, “it’s dangerous alone out here and I know this forest so well I can get us home even in bad weather.” Zuko stared at her, still unnerved by how much her eyes reminded him of Azula. He wondered why she spent so much time in the forest. 

“Your father will kill me if anything happens to you,” Zuko said,

“I don’t need a babysitter. Besides, my dad’s asleep he won't even notice I’m gone. I sneak out a lot.” She said, Zuko sighed, he did need a way out of the woods when Korra woke up.

“Fine, Toph just go tell Sokka and Suki. Also, tell them to be sure and clean their tattoos or they will get infected.”

“I don’t like the way it feels out here,” Toph said, she made the edge of the roof curl in around them, sealing them in more, "something is...off. Even the dirt seems scared." She shrugged and took off running back towards the village. 

“be careful!” Zuko called out as Toph vanished out of their limited range of visibility. That left Zuko and Kiyi essentially alone. He grew the fire, warming up the ground so it was more comfortable to sit on. Kiyi sat next to Korra, her knees pulled into her chest.

“You are really brave for running after her,” Zuko said finally, trying to break the silence.

“I just wanted to help her, in case something happens,”

“Well thank you, for, um, helping.” They returned to silence. He noticed Kiyi was shivering in the dark, she wasn’t even wearing a cloak. He took off his own coat and tossed it at her over the fire.

“Thanks,” She said, wrapping it around her shoulders and pulling it in tight, “sorry for hating you before.”

“It’s cool, all of my friends hated me when they first met me.”

“Did you have friends back at the palace?” Kiyi asked,

“One, Mai. But she was mostly Azula’s friend. We dated for a while but…” he trailed off,

“Where is she now?”

“Prison.” Zuko said, “she betrayed Azula.”

“Azula sounds…. scary.” Kiyi said, “mom doesn’t really talk about her that much, but I’ve seen pictures and heard stories. Is it true she was only fourteen when she became Firelord?”

“Yeah,” Zuko suddenly felt bad for Azula. She was so young when everything went wrong, so much pressure to put on a kid. He might have gone insane too, “she was very ambitious.”

“Are you going to kill her?” Kiyi asked, her eyes drilling into Zuko. He didn’t feel angry when thinking about Azula anymore, he didn’t feel scared or bitter or jealous. Now he just felt sorry for her.

“No, I won’t kill her.”

“Will you kill your father?”

“I don’t know.” Zuko said, “I don’t want to.”

Another silence, Zuko heard the rain pounding on the Toph-made roof, the crackle of the fire as an ember flew out and quickly fizzled out on the wet ground. He looked at Korra, she was still breathing steadily. He hadn’t been around for most of Aangs spirit world trips and had no idea how long they lasted, he hoped she would wake up soon.

“How did you know who I was?” He asked Kiyi, “when you first saw me you knew but no one else in the village has recognized me as the disgraced prince. Your father recognized me, too right?”

“I’d seen you before,” Kiyi pulled the cloak tighter around herself and shivered again like she was remembering a bad dream, “when you were in those cages and the Firelord was showing you off to everyone.”

“What?” Zuko had forgotten most of those awful months being shown off as Azula’s trophy but he was sure they hadn't gone to Hira'a “where?”

“I was in Fire Fountain City with dad, we were visiting some of his family. We were about to leave but the crowds were so big we had to stay when they unveiled you dad seemed really freaked out. He told me to promise not to tell mother about it.”

“She wasn’t there?” Zuko breathed a sigh of relief, he didn’t want that memory in his mother’s head.

“No, she had left the day before. She said she felt ill, but I think it’s because she saw Azula was coming to town.”

“So, you- your dad told you then? Who I am?”

“Yeah, kind of. I pestered him a lot about it, then later I was going through moms’ old stuff and found a picture of you and Azula as kids.”

“So, your whole life you had no idea that your mom used to be married to the Firelord?” She shook her head,

“Mom and dad are so boring I couldn’t even believe it.” That’s why she hated him when they first met, he couldn’t imagine being thirteen and realizing that your mother not only has two other kids, but your half-siblings are royalty. “You are kind of cool I guess,” Kiyi muttered, so quiet he could barely hear. Zuko smiled, maybe she wasn’t so bad.

“Well, I can teach you firebending if you want. I’ve trained two avatars now so that has to count for something.”

“Dad would never let me; he doesn’t want me fighting. I used to think it’s because I’m a girl but now I think it’s because he’s just too scared.” Kiyi pouted,

“What your dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Zuko said, Kiyi looked up and a smile formed on her face.

“Really? You would keep it a secret?”

“Of course, I can’t have my little sister suck at firebending. That would be embarrassing.” Zuko laughed and it echoed back, “here, stand up and show me what you can do.”

Kiyi wasn’t bad, her forms were wrong, and her flames were jagged and rough but there were power and passion behind her movements. The rest would quickly follow. He taught her basic moves and told her to try and shoot her fire into the rain, seeing how long it would stay lit before dying out. After a while he had almost forgotten Korra was unconscious behind them, it was the middle of the night and they were in the middle of a forest during one of the worst storms he had seen in a while.

And then, suddenly, the storm stopped. The rain just stopped falling and the clouds parted as if being pushed away by a mighty wind. Zuko and Kiyi stared out into the now clear sky, remains of the storm dripping onto their heads from the trees above.

Before he could say anything, Korra stirred behind them and in a second they were at her side. As soon as she saw Zuko, Korra began sobbing, clutching him and burying her face in his chest.

“I saw him,” Korra said, her tiny voice trembling, barely audible in the now eerily silent forest, “I watched Aang die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> u guys are lucky I'm eager to get to the Burn part of the slow-burn ..... its coming rly soon :):)


	20. Chapter 20

When they got back to the apartment, Sokka, Suki, and Toph were already there.

“Draw a bath she’s freezing,” Zuko said as they burst in,

“Is she okay? What happened? Is she awake? It’s good you didn’t move her when I got trapped in the spirit world—”

“Sokka, water,” Zuko repeated, Korra was still clutching him, she hadn’t said anything else since she woke up, but her words echoed in Zuko’s mind. She must have seen something in the spirit world. He remembered Aang saying something about being able to communicate with his past lives, Korra must have talked to Aang.

“We are going to warm you up okay?” Zuko said, gently helping Korra take off her wet clothes and heating up the water in their tub, Suki joined him, combing through her hair and getting all the leaves and sticks out as Zuko caught them up on what happened. Korra did not let go of his hand, didn’t let him out of her sight.

“It’s okay” he kept saying to her, but it didn’t seem to do much good. Perhaps it’s because he knew it wasn’t okay. Nothing was okay, an eight-year-old should not have to see what she had seen, “it’s okay.” Useless words.

“Why are you here?” Sokka asked, noticing Kiyi standing in the corner,

“Get her some of Katara’s clothes” Zuko ordered, tossing a towel out. Once Korra was warmer, he helped her put on dry clothes then changed into dry clothes himself. He sat down on the couch, Korra still shaking in his lap. Sokka, Suki, and Toph went home but Kiyi stayed hovering in the doorway.

“I want to make sure she’s okay,” she said quietly, staring at Korra.

“Your parents will worry; you should get home.” Katara’s clothes hung off her like she was merely a clothesline, making her look even younger. She ignored him, stepping closer and gently reaching for Korra’s hand. The young Avatar took it and Kiyi knelt on the ground, so she was closer to Korra.

“What’s wrong?” She asked gently. Zuko remembered his mother saying Kiyi had sharp edges, like Azula, but now he saw nothing of Azula in Kiyi’s face. This tenderness was something Zuko had never seen in his other sister. He wondered if their lives were switched, would Kiyi have become the mad tyrant and Azula the tender villager? Kiyi’s question kept ringing in his ears. Could he kill Azula? If given no other choice?

He didn’t want to think about it.

“She will be okay, it’s kind of like a really bad dream,” Zuko said, trying to explain something he knew very little about himself. He wished Katara was there to help, she understood Aang more than anyone, she would have known what his spirit world journeys were like. She would have been able to help.

“That man was so scary,” Korra said quietly, Zuko didn’t have to ask what man. He knew she meant his father, “he hurt Aang so bad,”

“It’s okay!” Kiyi said, reaching up and petting Korra’s hair, “there are no bad men here!”

“I want to go home, I miss my mom and dad,” Korra began to cry again and Zuko couldn’t do anything but hold her until she fell asleep. Kiyi also fell asleep, her head resting on Zuko’s knee, her hand still tightly holding Korra’s.

He gingerly stood up, trying not to wake either of them, then moved them so they were sleeping next to each other on the floor. He considered leaving to tell Ursa that Kiyi was safe but didn’t want them waking up alone. Instead, he dug up the Roku scrolls and began to read them again, this time looking for anything to do with the Spirit world.

Korra slept almost twenty hours before waking up. Kiyi stayed with her the whole time, not leaving her side for more than a few moments. Jun had left books he had collected over the years and Kiyi was particularly interested in one about the Kyoshi Warriors, she excitedly told Zuko that she was going to ask Suki to teach her to fight like them and asked if the Fire nation had an elite force of women warriors she could join. Zuko said he didn’t think so, but she could make one herself. Kiyi nodded excitedly and dove back into the books.

Zuko was worried Korra was sick, or worse, that the spirit world and seeing Aang’s final moments had somehow broken her psychologically. He was grateful Kiyi was around though, all the animosity she had felt towards Zuko seemed to be gone now that she considered him cool. He sensed that Noren didn’t let her talk about fighting much at home and she appreciated having somewhere to express her interests. Sokka, Suki, and Toph came over for dinner the next day, bringing food they had prepared at their house. Zuko woke Korra up, forcing her to eat something. She didn’t say a word, barely ate anything, then lay on the ground staring at the floor until she fell back asleep.

At dinner, Kiyi shared all her new knowledge about Kiyoshi with Suki and Sokka, who listened with rapt attention even though they probably knew most of what Kiyi was talking about. Suki said she would be happy to help Kiyi start her own troupe of fighters and they began brainstorming names.

In the time that Korra slept, Zuko was unable to sleep at all. He cleaned the house, ran the tea shop, read Roku’s scrolls over and over again, and still couldn’t seem to close his eyes for more than a few moments at a time. He drank tea he had been creating for Sokka but even that did nothing.

He finally was able to fall asleep on top of the covers of his bed, a half-read scroll lay on his chest and two more were tossed to the side next to him. There was still nothing about the spirit world, nothing about airbending.

He woke up sometime later, the sun had dipped below the horizon while he napped, and the room was a lot darker than it had been. Zuko lit the lamps and found Korra sitting up on the couch, staring at the picture of Aang on the wall.

“I don’t want to be the avatar anymore,” she said, “Aang didn’t either, he didn’t want to be the Avatar ever. It’s too scary.”

“I know it’s really scary.” Zuko said, “but you have lots of friends! Katara and Sokka and Suki and Toph and I won’t let anything happen to you.” He nudged her side playfully, trying to elicit a smile from the child. She barely moved. Korra sneezed really hard, harder than any eight-year-old should probably and the air from her sneeze pushed her back against the wall. Zuko wondered if he should go ask Ursa what to do with a sick kid. He had never seen one before.

“Can I really stop the war?” she asked, “can I really save all those people?”

“Maybe, someday. But you don’t have to worry about that right now.”

“Zuko?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you fight the mean man for me?” Korra looked so small and scared, she pulled her legs up and hugged them tightly to her chest. She looked like Kiyi had when she asked if he could kill his father. He realized if it meant saving the people, he loves he would kill his father.

“Of course,” He said, “I would fight anyone for you.”

Later, the group was together again. Kiyi had come over to see Korra and they were sitting next to each other on the ground. They were waiting for Katara to come back, Sokka tried to plan a welcome home party but it was essentially just more food than usual that was almost entirely gone by the time Katara returned.

Katara came through the door after a while, her clothes were muddy, and she looked exhausted but still smiled when Korra ran up to hug her. Korra didn’t let go and after a moment Katara pulled back a little,

“Hey! Are you okay? What happened?” She looked almost accusingly at Zuko.

“She took a trip to the spirit world,” he said, “and still hasn’t recovered from seeing parts of her most recent past life.” Katara’s brow furrowed for a moment then understanding washed over her and she pulled Korra into a tighter hug.

“I missed you,” Korra said, Katara smiled,

“Hey, it’s okay! I’m back now.”

“Promise to never leave again,” Korra demanded,

“Oh, come on, was Zuko that bad?”

“Promise!”

“Okay! I promise to never leave you again.” Katara said, Korra finally relaxed, but she remained glued to Katara’s side for the rest of the night. “I’m starving though, Sokka can you pass me the—what in _god’s name is on your arm?”_

He brandished his new tattoo proudly,

“It’s a tattoo! Suki gave it to me!” He beamed. Katara grabbed his arm forcefully pulling him to the table to look closer,

“What possessed you to do this? You realize this could get infected right? And then it would hurt a lot and be ugly for the rest of your life?”

“Zuko said you would heal us,” Sokka said, yanking his arm free from his younger sister. She rounded on Zuko,

“I specifically said she wouldn’t heal you!” Zuko said quickly, before her anger could be redirected.

“Wait, heal _us?_ ” Katara turned back to Zuko, thinking he must be the other part of that equation, “don’t tell me you let Sokka tattoo you.”

“No, I did!” Suki said cheerfully, putting her ankle on the table and showing off the picture that might look like Kyoshi if the viewer had a vague idea of what Kyoshi looked like and an even vaguer idea of what a human face looks like. Katara stared, at them,

“I am speechless,” she said, then continued “You are so irresponsible! You know that will last forever, right? Did you even bother to see if the ink you used was safe for people? Did you even bother to clean the needles? In all the time you were sitting there, stabbing each other hard enough to bleed, did you even _consider_ using your _big brain_ to think about what the consequences might be? I can’t even leave for _three days_ without you trying to infect your arm!” Katara wasn’t quite yelling but she wasn’t using her inside voice either.

“She’s really mean to him,” Kiyi whispered to Zuko, Sokka, however, seemed unphased by his sister's scolding.

“Relax Katara, I bought the ink and needles from a traveling merchant! He assured me they were safe.”

“Oh, a _traveling merchant_ I feel _sooo much better_.” Katara said sarcastically, “I hope it does get infected and you have to figure out how to fix it on your own.” She stuffed a bun in her mouth angrily, ignoring Sokka as he rolled his eyes.

“It’s okay Katara! We made sure it was all safe.” Suki said, “if you want one, we still have some ink leftover.”

“Can I have one?” Kiyi asked, causing everyone at the same time to respond: No!

Kiyi laughed, “I was kidding I just wanted to see you all get upset.”

“She’s already acting like a proper little sister, eh Zuko?” Sokka said, “be careful that she doesn’t spend too much time around Katara”

“What is a proper little sister?” Kiyi asked,

“I’ll teach you, it’s lots of fun.” Katara smiled, at her conspiratorially.

“First of all, embarrassing nicknames,” Sokka began,

“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side? Some big brother solidarity?” Zuko asked, worried about what was to come. Sokka sighed and set down his bowl of food quietly,

“Dearest friend, I cannot help you deal with your little sister until she is a proper little sister. And that, I’m afraid to say, involves embarrassing nicknames. Now you can either come up with your own OR if you cannot think of one, an embarrassing nickname can be assigned to you.”

“What’s your embarrassing nickname?” Suki asked,

“I don’t need a nickname to embarrass Sokka, he does it all on his own,” Katara said. As they sat around that table teasing each other, Zuko came to a very startling realization: he was in love with Katara. He had known for a while he liked her, respected her, feared her. She was always beautiful; he had known for a while that he _loved_ her, but now he realized he was _in love with her._ And he didn’t want to go another day without telling her. She caught his eye and he realized he had been staring at her. He looked down quickly, focusing on a loose thread on his clothes.

“I call all of you embarrassing nicknames” Toph pointed out,

“And all of us are your big brothers,” Sokka responded, grabbing her and ruffling her hair. Toph shoved him off but smiled despite herself.

The evening died down and everyone left. Korra had fallen asleep curled up next to Katara.

“What happened?” She asked Zuko, he told her about Korra disappearing to the pond and her trip to the spirit world, or at least what she had told him about. He also told her about his mother poisoning Azulon and his new relationship with Kiyi. It felt great to talk to her again, but the stress of words unsaid was beginning to weigh on him.

“That’s great Zuko! I’m so glad that things are better for your family.”

“I’m worried about Korra though, I’ve never seen anyone so scared. I don’t want to know what she saw but I have fought my father before- I know how bad it can get.”

“What triggered it? How did she even know how to get there?”

“Maybe she will talk more now that you’re back. I know she missed you a lot.” Zuko said, Katara smiled and gently carried Korra to bed.

“I missed her too,” She said, continuing the conversation as she went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Zuko leaned on the wall outside the door so they could still hear each other.

“How was your trip?”

“It was nice! Their family is very nice. The rain that night was truly awful though, I wish I had stayed with them before leaving. Oh! And Miku and Jun named the baby. His name is Boyang. I guess it has something to do with water in old Firenation dialect.

“Little Bo,” Zuko repeated, “is he doing okay?”

“He’s growing fine, I think he just needs time to adjust to being a person before he had planned,” The door opened and Katara peaked her head out, “can you bring me some clothes, I forgot to grab them before changing.”

Zuko went to their room and grabbed some of her sleep clothes. He stood there for a moment, hyping himself up.

“I missed you,” he said, passing the clothes through the half-open door.

“You seemed to manage okay without me,” Katara laughed. He heard water and guessed she was washing her hair.

“Yeah,” he said, the smell of her soap wafted through the door, “wait no, I mean. I need you around, we all do.”

“It was only three days.”

“I know but…” he took a deep breath, “three hours is too long for me.” Silence, Zuko’s face was burning, his heart was sinking.

“Zuko,” her voice was quiet but not hostile. He was thankful for the door between him so she couldn’t see what a mess he was trying to talk to her. She was his best friend, why was it so hard to just…say he wanted to be with her forever.

“What I mean is...” he faltered, he had said exactly what he meant, “what I mean is I never want to be without you. Things are really complicated now with my mother and the, you know, fate of the world resting on our shoulders thing, but I don’t care what happens in the future. It won’t mean anything to me if I can’t be with you.”

“You’re with me now,” her voice was closer this time, like she was right on the other side of the door.

“That’s not what I mean.” He said quietly frustrated at his inability to express his feelings, “What I mean is I love you and I…I want to stop worrying about what’s going to happen and try being happy _now.”_ There was another silence, then the door began to open. Zuko panicked, suddenly regretting everything he had said. He grabbed the door from his side and slammed it shut, “forget it, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said anything.”

He had already known she might reject him; he had prepared himself to deal with that. But he wasn’t ready to face it at that moment; he wasn’t ready for her to tell him no quite yet.

“Forget I said anything, I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” Zuko ran away from the bathroom and got into bed and under the covers as fast as he could. He pretended to be asleep when she returned, though he knew she probably saw through it.

Katara gently kissed his shoulder before laying down so they were back to back. Was it an “I love you too” kiss on his shoulder or an “I care about you as a friend but I’m sorry” kiss on the shoulder? Could it be “I’m going to kill you in the morning because I hate you and this has gone too far” kiss on the shoulder?

He tried to think of how he was going to redeem himself tomorrow, he could always say that he meant “I love you like a friend! Like I love Sokka! Or Suki!” but he knew that was a lie, he loved her more, he loved her differently. He was so exhausted he finally fell asleep, dreaming of the girl laying right next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed Zutara week but,,,... happy zutara week!
> 
> Also if ur wondering: Boyang is a Chinese name (characters 波洋）which do have to do w water (although Boyang is a name they probably would use diff characters irl but I wanted to use the ones that mean water) Jun is also a Chinese name, (俊）which means pretty/successful and a bunch of famous Chinese generals and like princes had the name. Just some #fun#facts that I wanted to share.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since im writing more i changed my username and icon and stuff to reflect the ~new~ me, u can find me on tumblr at the same url :)

The next morning Zuko was relieved that he had woken up before Katara. It meant he could slip silently out of bed and downstairs without having to face her. What if he just never faced her again, he thought, impractical seeing as they were living together and pretend married, but he bet he could pull it off.

She didn’t come down for most of the morning, Zuko assumed she wanted to rest from the journey but wondered if she was avoiding him. He was avoiding her so he could hardly be upset.

Kiyi had become somewhat of a permanent fixture in his life, constantly at the tea shop reading or hanging out with Korra. He had given her some of Roku’s scrolls and tasked her with reading them for important information, it was a way she could help without Noren breathing down Zuko’s neck for putting her in danger.

“What do you think Katara would do if I pierced my ears?” Sokka was leaning lazily on the counter in the kitchen, massively in the way of what Zuko was trying to do. He pushed around Sokka, but the water tribe boy didn’t budge.

“She might kill you,” Zuko said, trying to hide the fact that his ears turned pink at Katara’s name.

“But I would look really cool right?” he said, grabbing a small cake off one of the trays and eating it,

“Are you going to pay for that?” Zuko asked, snatching the tray away and bringing it out to the table that had ordered it. Sokka followed him,

“I saw jewelry at the general store, I bet Suki would help me pierce them, its old water tribe tradition after all.”

“Really?” Zuko tried to think if he had seen anyone with pierced ears in the North Pole.

“Well I mean, it could be. I could start that tradition.” Sokka said.

“Have you given Suki the fan yet?”

“No, I’m uhh waiting for the right moment.” Sokka kicked a table idly, Zuko swore a tinge of red graced his cheeks.

“Oh?”

“I mean, well, I guess I want it to be more than just a fan if you know what I mean”

“I don’t”

“I want to ummm, ask her a question with it…” 

“What question?” Zuko glanced up, staring at Sokka’s face, it was the same color red as the royal robes Zuko had worn as a child. “Wait…you don’t mean _the question?_ ” 

“Yeah….” Sokka rubbed the back of his neck, “it’s stupid right? But I mean, this is as peaceful as our lives have been and I dunno. I love her and like, if I think about being apart from her again I just...” he trailed off. 

“That’s great Sokka, I wish you luck,” Zuko said earnestly, he was so happy at Sokka wanting to propose he didn’t notice Katara standing at the bottom of the stairs. Korra had joined Kiyi at her table, she wasn’t quite as energetic as she had been but at least she was awake and Zuko even saw the hint of a smile on her face. Katara wasn’t smiling though, she was staring expressionless at Zuko.

He usually could read her pretty well, Katara wasn’t known for hiding her emotions and they had spent so much time together he could gauge what she was thinking as if her thoughts were an extension of his own. But this time it was like opening a book he’d already read, only to find out that all the words had been erased and there was nothing but blank pages.

“Zuko what’s wrong?” Sokka asked,

“Nothing.” Zuko tried to pull his eyes away from Katara but he couldn’t.

“It’s just that you are pouring the tea onto the tray, not the cup.”

Zuko looked down, realizing he had been dumping tea a few inches away from the cup and now it was all over the counter. He swore under his breath but deep down he was thankful for a reason to busy himself.

“Good morning sister dearest,” Sokka said, throwing his arm around Katara.

“Hi, Sokka.”

“You remember the age-old water tribe tradition of piercing your ears, right?”

“Do I?” She wasn’t looking at Sokka, her eyes focused on Zuko as he tried to ignore her eyes on him and continue working.

“Yeah! It’s um, a thing. That water tribe people do. And Fire Nation, if you want, Zuko, or earth kingdom, I guess. Toph doesn’t seem like someone who likes jewelry though…”

“So, you are just talking about people piercing their ears. That’s not a tradition that’s just a thing people do.” Zuko said, staring at Sokka to avoid meeting Katara’s eyes.

“I don’t care if you pierce your ears Sokka,” Katara said, sighing. She sat down with Kiyi and Korra.

“Really? Great! Anyway, I have to get back to work but good talk Z-man.” Sokka blew Zuko a kiss and sauntered out. How could he leave Zuko alone with Katara? Zuko was glad the shop was busy; he didn’t have time to talk to Katara between rushing back and forth from the kitchen and getting everyone tea. Jun had started serving pastries too, which Zuko agreed was a good idea, but it did make his job slightly more complicated.

It was late when the shop emptied, the last few customers leaving their cups and plates. Zuko cleaned up, dragging it on because he knew he would have to talk to Katara soon. He scrubbed the dishes, trying to plan his opening line,

“Hey! Katara! Um, how are you? I’m great. Thanks.” He sighed, shaking his head, “no that’s not it. How about: last night I think I was drunk? I don’t even remember what I said. Anyways I’m glad we are friends and don’t want anything to change!” the dishes clicked together, the dull echoes sound of clay ceramic. It didn’t ring out like glass or rustle like parchment. He stacked the dishes and wiped down the counter again.

“Hey Katara, I’m really sorry if you misinterpreted what I said but actually ‘I love you’ has many different meanings and in um, traditional Fire Nation culture it means, um…” he trailed off, sighing once more. Nothing sounded right.

“What does it mean in traditional ‘Fire nation’ culture?” Katara was leaning in the doorway, a bemused smirk on her face. Zuko had never wanted to be small enough to fit through the kitchen window more.

“Katara,” he said, not sure if he was greeting her or answering her question.

“Let’s take a walk,” She said, turning and leaving without waiting for a response. He quickly hung up his apron and followed. His heart was pounding, he felt acutely aware of everything around them. The air was cold, the dust kicked up under their feet, his lips were dry, but his palms were sweaty. He walked next to Katara, far enough away that their hands couldn’t possibly brush against each other on accident. She said nothing as they walked, didn’t even look at him. Her face was serious in the glow of lanterns just being lit, they waved at a few villagers on their porches. Just a married couple, walking through town. Nothing weird about that.

He felt like he was walking to his death. No matter what she said, everything would be different. He hoped that if she was going to reject him, she would have the decency to kill him after so that he didn’t have to live with the heartbreak and embarrassment.

They stopped at the edge of the forest, where the river flowed out towards the next town. The trees had taken on a different aura since Korra’s episode, Zuko wondered if the forest spirits also knew that things were changing. He hoped they would be kind to his body when Katara left him there to die.

“Zuko,” his stomach lurched when she said his name, she stood a few feet away from him, staring at the water, not looking at him. This wasn’t going to be good.

“Listen I just want to say I’m sorry that I put you in an uncomfortable position- “

“Can you shut up?”

“--and It's okay that you don’t feel the same way—”

“ _Please_ stop talking-”

“--and I promise I won’t get weird or anything and we can just pretend this never—” He was cut off by Katara flicking her wrist and encasing him in ice from the river next to them. Only his head was free.

“Shut up or I will freeze your whole face so only your ears work okay?” Katara said, glaring at him. He closed his mouth. Katara took a deep breath, “you are so infuriating do you know that? I mean, sure when we first met you were this annoying sixteen-year-old who tried to kill me every chance you got, then everyone else trusted you but I thought I knew better. Then you… you changed into a good person and a friend and I didn’t know what to think anymore.” Katara was talking fast, like the words couldn’t leave her mouth fast enough, “And then Aang…Aang died. And you were all that was left, and I hated you for it for a little while, I was bitter and upset. Out of everyone to be stuck with, I was stuck with you.”

Did she still hate him? Was everything an act this whole time? Zuko wished the rest of the ice would swallow him whole.

“For years we were all alone and you…” she shook her head, “you became my best friend and now we are practically raising the avatar together and I thought that when we rescued Sokka and Suki and Toph my feelings would change, I thought that it would go back to the way it was before Aang died. I thought that you would want to move on now that we had our friends back,”

 _Where would I go?_ Zuko wanted so desperately to speak but even if he could find the words there was not enough time between Katara’s breaths to say them,

“ I was worried you would leave to do something else but you…didn’t. And the worst part is I tried to remember why I used to hate you and now I can’t even remember,” 

Katara took a breath, steadying herself. She was pacing now in tiny circles, her hands clenched. 

“I talked to my dad, you know, because I realized at the North Pole that I didn’t want to be without you anymore and it was stupid to hide my feelings. But, Zuko, we live in a terrible world where it’s so easy to lose someone. After Aang died I swore I wouldn’t fall in love again until the war was over, I would wait until I could be sure that whoever I loved wouldn’t leave. I…” she choked and Zuko could make out tears reflecting light from the village in her eyes, she took another shaky breath, “my dad said that when my mom died he didn’t regret falling in love with her, he didn’t regret being with her even though their time was cut short. He said he wished he had fallen in love with her sooner so they could have been together longer.”

“can I say something?” Zuko asked, Katara went on as if she hadn’t heard him,

“But I was still so scared, I still refused to let myself love. But you,” her voice broke, “you had to go and ruin my whole plan.”

“I—”

“you _had_ to go and make me fall in love with you.” The last words fell silent, Zuko thought they should have rung out throughout the trees but they died on the grass between them, “Zuko I love you and you were right, last night, I don’t want to be so worried about the future that I don’t enjoy what happiness is right in front of me.” The ice around him began to melt, flowing back into the river. He stumbled as his legs were freed but Katara steadied him with a hand on his chest.

“I love you too. “he said, and he realized that the words didn’t echo across the trees or flow away with the river, but they didn’t die in the grass either. The words existed in the space between them and he didn’t care that the trees didn’t spread the message because no one else needed to know. Katara finally smiled, her eyes reflecting all the stars in the sky. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him properly. He smiled into her lips, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her as close as he could.

Without breaking apart, he lifted her off the ground and spun her around, misjudging his balance and causing both of them to topple into the grass laughing. They rolled and she ended up on top of him, smiling as they kissed again.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just some cute fluff this time :)  
> enjoy while it lasts :)

Two more days, Zuko kept telling himself, two more days and Jun comes back and I can have a break. The shop had become the hot spot of town, between the new decorations and the improved menu it was, in Zuko’s mind, finally good enough for Uncle Iroh. The increase in customers did make more work for Zuko, who had been running the shop alone since Jun left. 

Since she was around so much anyways, Zuko began putting Kiyi to work washing dishes or helping him bring trays of pastries to the tables. Noren was grateful she was getting a ‘work ethic’ and didn’t ask too many questions when they disappeared into the forest to practice firebending.

Zuko guessed that his mother knew but she just seemed happy that Zuko and Kiyi were bonding. He still hadn’t told her about Katara, but the time wasn’t right.

“I think that the fire nation warriors should have some signature weapon too,” Kiyi rattled on while clearing away a table,

“Uh-huh,” Zuko had taken over one of the smaller tables in the corner to catch up on book-keeping. Usually, Jun handled the numbers, especially since he found out how bad at arithmetic Zuko is. But now it had been almost two weeks since Jun left and Zuko really couldn’t put it off any longer.

“I mean, fans are cool but that’s really Kyoshi Warriors thing and it goes well with their whole vibe. I asked some of the girls in the village if they wanted to become Fire Nation Warriors with me and a few said yes- “

“Uh-huh,”

“- one of the boys asked if he could join but he was mean to Sophie once and also he’s a boy so…gross.”

“Uh-huh,”

“Anyway, the only thing I’ve ever used is a spear, but I don’t know how much I like that, I want to learn something new.”

“That’s a great idea,”

“Sokka is good with his boomerang but I also don’t think that really fits with what I want us to be like- “

“Kiyi do you not have tables to clear elsewhere?” Zuko rubbed his temple, the numbers were all blurring together, and he felt stupid for forgetting basic arithmetic he had learned as a child.

“Oh, right,” Kiyi’s disappointment made Zuko feel instantly guilty,

“I’m sorry but I need to finish this, why don’t you go see if there’s a book on weapons in your library” he sounded like he was telling her to go buy a new toy. _Go pick out a weapon, my kid sister, I will teach you how to fight!_ Kiyi nodded and bounced away, her spirit restored and Zuko’s quiet torture could continue.

He was interrupted moments later, this time by Katara coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around him. She rested her chin on his shoulder peering at the pages spread out before him.

“Are you any good at numbers?” he asked,

“Nope.”

“Sometimes I wonder why I keep you around,” he shook his head. Katara smiled and kissed his cheek,

“For moral support.” She stood up but Zuko caught her hand before she could pull away, pressing a chaste kiss to the back of her knuckles. He was enjoying being able to kiss her without having to pretend it was for their fake marriage.

“Are you almost done?” She asked, sitting next to him, resting her head on her hands. Her hair had grown since she cut it at the air temple, back when it was just them and Korra and Korra’s parents. He wanted to go back to that fountain with her or take her to see the lights in the north pole. Her bangs fell loosely in her eyes, her hair was a little longer than shoulder length, but she’d been keeping it in a single braid lately.

“Where is Korra?” Zuko looked back at the papers, he had forgotten where he was. He sighed again, wondering how mean it would be to leave it all for Jun to do when he returned. He has a new baby, the voice in Zuko’s head that told him to be good said, the man needs some rest.

“Outside, playing with some of the village children.”

“So, she’s made friends?” Zuko piled the stack of papers together, resigning himself to finishing tomorrow. He went back to the counter and grabbed the papers from today, sighing at Kiyi’s sloppy penmanship. He was grateful she was helping but knew it would be a struggle to decipher her scribbles later.

“A few, she misses Sophie a lot though. Kiyi has been really nice to her lately.”

“That’s good, I think they are good for each other.”

If Zuko could travel back in time to ten years ago and tell himself that in the future he would work in a tea shop, be dating a water bender, raising the avatar and talking about her like he was her parent, he would have probably thrown himself off his own ship.

They headed out together, going to find Korra on the way to Yu’s. She was in the town square, playing with a few kids that were going to be in the play with her.

Zuko and Katara watched for a moment as they jabbed and stabbed at each other with the wooden swords,

“She’s really bad at sword fighting,” Zuko said, “did we forget to teach her that?”

“Aang never had a sword.” Katara responded, “why does she need one?”

“I’m not saying we get her a sword I’m just saying it’s a little embarrassing to watch her get beat so easily by this other little kid.”

The kid Korra was fighting at the moment, a boy named Orin, had effectively disarmed her and kept hitting her with the blunt part of the blade. Korra fell back into the dirt, causing Zuko and Katara to run up.

“Orin you have to follow the rules!” Korra was saying, “you can’t hit someone if they don’t have a sword!”

“I still a sword though, so why can’t I hit you?” Orin asked, he pulled his arm back to strike again and Korra jumped up and kicked it out of his hand. The sword flew a few feet and landed on the ground.

“Hey!” Orin shouted, “You hurt me!”

“You hurt me!” Korra screamed back, Zuko and Katara reached them and separated the children, Zuko stepping between them and Katara grabbing Korra.

“Who taught you to keep hitting once you’ve won the fight?” Zuko asked, “there’s no honor in defeating a weaponless enemy.”

“I don’t want honor I want to fight,” Orin tried to push past Zuko, “besides she hurt me!”

“You hurt me first!” Korra tried to pull away from Katara,

“Stop it, both of you!” Katara said, “Korra was acting in self-defense.”

“But- “Orin started to protest but his father came to take him home. Korra was still fuming as they went to dinner,

“He’s a bully.” She huffed, Katara was stroking her head comfortingly,

“I know, try and eat some noodles it will make you feel better.”

“I hate him,” Korra mumbled,

“I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself,” Katara said,” sometimes boys just need to punch something, and you can’t let it be you.”

“And if they do, punch them right back,” Zuko added,

“What if I want to punch something?” Korra asked,

“You can punch a pillow or a rock or pile of hay, juts don’t hurt anyone or anything that can’t fight back.” Katara said, “Or find Toph to practice earth bending with.”

“Okay,” Korra said, satisfied with her options, “I guess.”

***

“Guys wait, I think Zuko and Katara _KISSED!”_ Zuko felt everyone turn to glare at Katara and him as Toph stood and pointed a finger, his mouth fell open, how did she know?

“Yes Toph, we are married remember?” Katara said casually, rolling her eyes. Toph cocked her head as if listening, to what Zuko had no idea. Maybe she could hear his pounding heart from all the way across the room. It had been a few days since Zuko and Katara had become a real couple, but they hadn't gotten around to telling everyone else. That is, until Toph decided to interrupt the family dinner and announce to the whole room, out of nowhere, that they had kissed.

She sat back down, her face shocked, “wait a minute…” she said, “I was kidding when I said that but Zuko’s heart went crazy fast. I think I hit a nerve.”

No one said anything for a moment, Katara glared at Zuko.

“I can’t control my heartbeat! She yelled so I got startled...”

“Liar,” Toph said, lying back.

“I am not lying!”

“Liar!!!” Toph stood up, “I can do this all day hot-stuff.”

“Hold up does that mean…” Suki’s voice rose with excitement,

“Nothing it means nothing,” Zuko said, busying himself by putting more meat on Korra’s plate.

“They kiss a lot,” she said, “especially when they think I’m asleep.”

“Ah from the mouth of babes.” Sokka leaned back in satisfaction as if he had personally brought them together.

“There’s nothing weird, or wrong, about two people who have been friends for a long time figuring out that they might have stronger feelings and discussing them in a healthy way!” Katara said,

“How did it happen?” Suki asked, gazing at them with wide eyes,

“Tell us everything.” Sokka leaned in.

“Um, she uh, trapped me in ice and yelled at me for a bit,” Zuko said,

“Only after you confessed to me while I was in the bathroom! And then went to bed and avoided me the whole next day!”

“Okay well we got figured it out, didn’t we?”

The table was silent for another moment. Everyone sat back, Zuko avoided anyone’s gaze and guessed Katara was doing the same. Finally, Sokka asked, “so what now?”

“What do you mean ‘what now?’” Zuko stared at him,

“I mean, the past few months I’ve spent most of my time wondering if you were ever gonna get together and now you have so…what do I think about now?”

“You have been thinking about us, for months?” Katara stared incredulously, “maybe you could get a life?”

“I mean,” Sokka started to reply then stopped, looking as though inspiration had suddenly struck him, he glanced at Suki, then at Zuko, then jumped up, “Everybody wait here and no one move or say anything until I come back!” he bolted into his room and closed the door, sounds of disarray coming from behind.

“Is he okay?” Kiyi asked,

“I hope so,” Katara smiled at Zuko, “I guess cats out of the bag now.” She reached over and took his hand, they held hands a lot before but now it was different. Now he was holding hands with his _girlfriend._

“I do not need to get a life,” Sokka pronounced proudly, stepping out of the room and closing the door quickly behind him. He was holding something behind his back, “Psst, Suki, come here.” He nodded to the empty floor in front of him. Suki cautiously stood up and walked over, everyone watching with varying degrees of anticipation and fear. Sokka cleared his throat and Zuko saw the tip of Better-Fan behind his back,

“I do not need to get a life,” he repeated, “I would much rather get… _a wife_!” he knelt on one knee in front of Suki, producing Better-Fan and holding it up to her. Katara gripped Zuko’s arm so hard he thought she might bruise it. Suki gasped, her hands covering her mouth, “Suki will you- “

“Wait!” Suki interrupted, “wait don’t move no one move everyone stay right there!” she too, ran into their bedroom. Sokka looked around, his face bright red. Before anyone could process what was happening enough to say anything Suki reemerged, grinning. She was holding something behind her back and resumed her place in front of Sokka.

“You may proceed.” She said, Sokka breathed a sigh of relief, then cleared his throat and started again.

“I do not need to get a li- “

“Yeah, babe, we heard that part,”

“But it rhymed!”

“I know just….” Suki bounced on the balls of her feet, “skip to the next part”

“Okay, fine, Suki will you—”

“Yes!” Suki squeaked.

“You can’t even let me finish asking—wait did you say yes?”

“Yes!” Suki said again, Sokka let out a single laugh, then stood up and kissed her. When they pulled away Suki produced what had been behind her back, it was a beautiful metal boomerang encased in leather.

“Did you—”

“It’s a boomerang!” She beamed, Sokka handed her the fan,

“I made you a fan!”

“I love you!”

“I love you too!” They kissed again, Suki leaping up and wrapping her legs around Sokka’s waist, so he was holding her. Zuko made a mental note that they did not fall, and maybe he and Katara were just bad at that type of aerobic making out. Toph groaned loudly but she was smiling, nonetheless. Katara had not yet released his arm and he felt the circulation cut off, he gently pried her hand off his bicep and noticed her eyes were swelling up with tears.

Katara stood up and pushed her way between Sokka and Suki, hugging them both, “I love you both so much!” The three of them dissolved into tears, eventually pulling Zuko, Toph, Korra, and Kiyi into the hug.

“I love you all so much!” Sokka shouted, “I’m getting married!!”

***

“Have you ever thought about having kids?” Katara and Zuko were walking along the river. Since they had first become a couple there it had become their spot, they had begun walking along the bank in the evening or sitting on the big rocks, basking in the rare sunbeam that made its way through the winter clouds. Zuko imagined in the warmer months they would sunbathe on the rocks and swim in the water.

“I always assumed I would have to have kids someday,” he responded, kicking a rock into the water, “I had to produce an heir.” I still might, he thought. He hadn’t talked about trying to become Firelord with Katara yet. He didn’t know what that would mean for them and didn’t want to think about something that might not even happen.

“I never wanted kids,” she said, “surprising right? I always had to take care of everyone else’s kids. I always dreamed of a day that I could just…just take care of myself or even have someone else take care of me.”

There was a rock formation Zuko particularly liked, it was two rocks against each other so that they looked like a huge chair. It overlooked the river so when they sat, they could lean against one rock and stare over the water. He climbed up and spread out, Katara lying down next to him and resting her head in his lap.

“I’ll take care of you.” He said, she smiled, reaching up and stroking his chin.

“I know. Maybe if things become safer I'll want kids." She sighed, he understood. How could they justify bringing a helpless child into the world?

“Do you like it here? In Hira’a?” _could you maybe also like living in the fire nation capital?_ Zuko hated himself for suddenly thinking so far ahead, he had no idea when or if they would ever win the war, he didn’t know if they would both survive, he didn’t know if he could become Firelord. He felt like he was setting himself up for disappointment, but then he caught the way Katara's eyes reflected the sunlight or how her brow creased with concern, the way the corner of her mouth turned up when she smirked at him and decided that disappointment would be worth it, for just those few moments they could have. 

“It’s fine, it’s nice.”

“Really?”

“It reminds me a lot of the south pole, everyone knows everyone, everyone takes care of each other.”

“So, you do like it?”

“Everyone is happy and can live their quiet lives surrounded by the same people every day, they don’t have to worry about Firenation ships destroying their town unless they accidentally discover the Avatar,”

“So, you don’t like it?”

“I love being here with you, and I love being here with Korra and I guess it’s fine that Sokka lives nearby.”

“Katara,”

“Zuko, I didn’t leave the South Pole with Aang because I loved living there, I wanted more. I wanted adventure and I wanted to help people or make a difference somewhere. I just…” She trailed off, “it’s stupid, I know, to be bored when we are the safest and happiest, we’ve been in years but…”

“You don’t like it here.” He concluded,

“I just…I miss the adventure. The travel, meeting new people, and helping.”

“I understand,” Zuko smiled, she could do all of that as Firenation queen…

“Do you like it here?” she asked. He looked out over the water, absentmindedly running a hand through her hair.

“I like being with you.” He said, “and I like being with Korra and I guess Sokka living nearby is okay…” Katara laughed and he decided he could live anywhere as long as it was within earshot of that sound.

“I believe I said I _love_ living with you.”

“I do love being with you, wherever we are.”

“So, where do you want to live?” She grabbed his hand, tangling their fingers together.

“I don’t know,” he said, she narrowed her eyes at him, she knew he was lying; he did know. He wants to live in the Fire Nation Capital. He wants to be Firelord. He just hadn’t realized it until that very second. 

“Well, we’ll figure it out.” She yawned, “I think we’d better head back though, Korra is going to be hungry for dinner.” As if on cue, a low grumble came from her stomach. Zuko laughed,

“Are you sure its Korra who will be hungry?”

“I know it’s hard to believe because I’m so perfect, but I am also human Zuko. I need to eat to survive.” Katara stood up, holding out a hand to pull him up too.

“I had no idea you were human, that’s kind of a deal-breaker actually- “

“Did you think I was, what, a platypus bear?”

“I thought you were a goddess.” He recovered quickly and was rewarded by a rare blush on Katara’s cheeks. He made mental note of what made her blush. Everything made him blush, so he wanted to have ways to get back on equal footing.

“Fine. You win, let’s just go please.” And she dragged him back to town laughing.


	23. Chapter 23

Zuko wasn’t sure who was happiest with Jun’s families return, him or Korra. Korra waited all day for them to come back, pacing by the door, staring out the window, she went to the edge of town for a while then realized it was too cold and came back inside. He was just ready for a break from the tea shop.

When their carriage pulled up Korra leaped to her feet and ran outside, almost getting trampled on her way to meet Sophie. Sophie jumped out of the barely stationary cart and the girls fell to the ground in a huge hug. Jun, Miku, Micah, and baby Boyang all went straight back to their house to unload and rest from the journey. Sophie and Korra went outside to play with some dolls Sophie’s grandma had made for them.

Zuko had finally finished the bookkeeping and double-checked his numbers to make sure they were correct, no doubt leaving a few errors for Jun to fix but not so many that he would be mad at Zuko. Katara was spending the day with Suki, Toph, and Kiyi. A “girls’ day”, whatever that was. Korra opted to stay and play with Sophie which left Sokka, once again, hovering over Zuko as he worked.

“We want to wait until its safe for us to travel, of course, and maybe get married back on Kyoshi island, where we first met,” he was saying, “but then there’s the problem of I’m technically next in line to be Chief of the southern water tribe, so it would be a bad political choice to ignore that part of my heritage.”

“Of course,”

“But we have had a lot of time in the fire nation and like it here, we could always just get married in Hira’a but then my dad wouldn’t be able to come—Oh! I should write him a letter. Zuko do you have a messenger bird I could borrow?”

“Why would I have a messenger bird?”

“For sending messages….by bird…?”

“No, I know what a messenger bird is, but why do you think I have one? Have you ever seen me with a messenger bird?”

“I don’t know what you and Katara keep in your bedroom!” Sokka exclaimed, “I don’t want to know either,” he added with a wink. Zuko shoved him aside, trying to do his job.

“If you are going to be here all day bothering me please take this to the table second closest to the window on the left.” Zuko handed him a tray,

“Which window?” Sokka looked around the small room, Zuko grabbed his shoulders and pointed him in the correct direction,

“The only table that has people sitting at it Sokka.” He shoved his friend away and Sokka began telling the two older gentlemen playing pai sho about how he was engaged to the most beautiful girl in the world. As annoyed as he was, Zuko found it hard not to smile at how unabashed Sokka was in talking about Suki.

His attention was drawn away from Sokka when he heard shouting outside. Upon stepping outside to see what was going on, Zuko saw Orin was holding one of Sophies dolls by the head, actually, he was _only_ holding the head of the doll, the rest of the body lay discarded in the mud. Sophie was kneeling next to it, clutching the other doll with tears streaming down her face. Korra stood defiantly in Orin’s face,

“Give it back Orin.” She said,

“Why?? Do you stupid girls want to play with your stupid dolls??”

“GIVE IT BACK ORIN!” Korra yelled, her fists clenched.

“You want it? Come and get it!” Orin teased, holding the head by its hair and running away.

Korra leaped after him, her hands pushed out like she was going to firebend at him but instead of fire, a gust of air blew past and knocked Orin to the ground. Korra ran up and grabbed the head of the doll, turning to see Zuko standing in shock.

“She pushed me!” Orin yelled, standing up and running back towards his house. Korra looked at Zuko with wide eyes, her face filling with panic, then she took off running away.

“Korra!” He chased after her, she was fast, much faster than he had anticipated, having never actually seen her run at full speed. He was quickly winded but kept up, not letting her out of his sight. She ended up tripping over a bucked left outside one of the houses, crashing into the mud where she remained, shaking.

When Zuko caught up he realized she was crying into the dirt, not bothering to stand up or brush herself off. He put a hand on her, gently pulling her out of the mud.

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking to make sure she wasn’t bruised or bleeding. She sniffed, looking at her feet. Zuko kneeled so they were at eye level, “what just happened?” he asked.

“I’m sorry.” Korra cried, “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“I don’t think you hurt him.” Zuko said gently, “but what did you do back there?”

“Nothing! I didn’t do anything! He fell on his own!” She yelled, angrily wiping away tears. Her hand was muddy so it just smeared dirt on her face. Zuko was certain she had just used airbending but wasn’t sure how, or why she was lying about it.

“He broke Sophie’s doll,” she sniffed, “he just tore it in half! We didn’t even want to play with him. I just wanted him to give the doll back, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Korra you aren’t in trouble. Let’s go back and clean you up okay? We can talk more later.” Zuko stood up, taking Korra’s hand and leading her back to the store.

Sophie was still cradling the broken dolls but Sokka had brought her inside the tea shop after seeing the fight outside.

“Can I see your doll?” Zuko asked Sophie gently, she sniffed and passed him the two parts. Orin had ripped it at the seam, “I can fix her and have her back to you tomorrow.” He said,

“Like… a doctor?” Sophie asked,

“Sure. I’m a doll doctor. The patient will be fixed by the morning.” Sophie smiled a little and wiped away the tears that had dried on her face.

Zuko brought out tea and snacks for the girls and Sokka, who had actually begun to pick up slack and kept everyone happy while Zuko was chasing after Korra. He couldn't help but think that Korra could airbend now things were going to get a lot more complicated.

Later that night Sophie went home, and the girls returned, Zuko politely declined an invitation to dinner, wanting to talk to Korra with just Katara. She would feel more comfortable that way, he figured.

They ate quietly, Katara talked about how their girl’s day was pretty boring. There wasn’t much to do in Hira’a that they hadn’t done already. Korra wouldn’t look at Zuko throughout dinner.

“What’s wrong with you two?” Katara asked finally, Zuko eyed Korra cautiously.

“Something happened earlier that I think we should talk about,” He started saying. Korra looked up with that same fear in her face. Her eyes began to water, and she sniffed indigently, maybe he should talk to her about it alone.

“What” Katara’s voice got instantly serious as she looked between them. Zuko smiled, and laughed, trying to break the tension.

“Nothing, Sophie’s doll broke and I think Korra is just upset about that," he turned to Korra, "Don’t worry! I said I’m the doctor and I’ll fix her right up good as new.” Zuko reached over, ruffling Korra’s hair. She sniffed again and focused on her bowl of rice and meat; he could have sworn a tear dripped into the food.

“Oh no, well it’s good you can fix it,” Katara said, Zuko knew she could sense something else was going on, but she didn’t press for details. “After dinner can you run the Roku scrolls back to your mother’s house?”

“Sure,” Zuko said, “Korra can come with me.”

The walk to Ursa’s house was short and Zuko didn’t say anything on the way over, trying to figure out the best way to talk to her.

In the house, he pulled his mother into her library, “Can I um…ask for some advice? Like, parenting advice?” he said, not sure how else to categorize his relationship with Korra.

“Did something happen with Korra?” Ursa asked, looking out towards the living room where Korra was sitting and talking to Noren politely.

“Yeah, she got into a fight earlier and I think there’s something she isn’t telling me,” Zuko said, being as vague as possible.

“Well, dear, you can’t force her to talk to you. Children need their secrets too.”

“I don’t want her to think she has to hide stuff from us though,”

“Us?”

“Katara,” Zuko explained, “but also the others I suppose. I just felt like if something had happened, she would have told us by now. Am I not paying enough attention to her? I’ve been busy with the tea shop and um, stuff.”

Ursa smiled and laughed quietly, sobering up when he looked at her desperately, “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you, I just…I asked those same questions when you were younger. Children keep so much inside; you had your own secrets from me when you were her age did you not?”

Zuko remembered all the times Azula had teased him that he hadn’t told her about, all the things his father had said behind closed doors when he thought Zuko couldn’t hear. But that was different right?

“But I've never seen Korra scared like this, she’s much stronger than I was.”

“Everyone is scared of something.” Ursa said, “trust your heart. Korra loves you, she will tell you when she’s ready.”

“I hope it’s soon,” Zuko crossed his arms, his brow furrowed with concern,

“Now I have a question for you, what _other stuff_ has been distracting you from Korra?” Ursa asked with a knowing grin, Zuko felt his ears burn.

“Well, I mean, you know….”

“Kiyi told me.” Ursa smiled, pulling him into a hug, “I’m so happy for you and Katara. You make a fine couple.”

“Thanks, mom.” Zuko smiled, now everyone important to him knew, “any way we’d better head home.”

They walked back slowly, “do you want to visit Naga?” Zuko asked when they reached the crossroads. Korra shrugged, then began walking in the direction of the stable behind Sokka’s house.

The stable was big enough that Naga could rest comfortably. Zuko sat down on a bale of hay and watched as Korra greeted her polar bear dog. Naga greeted her with a lick that went up the little avatar’s whole body, covering her in slime and causing Korra to giggle.

Korra pet Naga for a while, the animal letting Korra climb up and lay down on her back. They would visit Naga frequently to feed her, sometimes taking her to run out in the forest, and it always made Korra feel better.

He remembered Appa, Aang had a spiritual connection to the flying bison, Zuko hoped Naga was similar and could help Korra where he could not.

Korra slid down Naga’s leg and landed in the hay next to Zuko, “thanks for not telling Katara about my fight.” Korra said, her voice tiny in the wooden stable.

“Korra you know we love you right? We want to protect you, but you have to trust us,” Zuko said, picking his words carefully.

“I don’t…I’m sorry.” She said, Zuko thought she had been about to say something, but she clamped her mouth shut, “can we go home? I’m tired.”

“Of course,” Zuko reached out his hand to her and she took it as they walked back.

“You gonna tell me what happened?” Katara asked, jumping onto the bed causing Zuko to stab his thumb with a needle.

“Ouch,” a dot of red blood, formed on his finger.

“Oh no are you okay?” Katara reached over and grabbed his finger, squeezing it so more blood came out.

“Ow! What are you doing? Give me my finger.” Zuko tried to yank his hand away but she was too strong, “are you going to heal it?”

“You take advantage of me!” Katara gasped, releasing his hand and falling back dramatically next to him on the bed, “are you only with me for my healing abilities?”

“Well you aren’t even using them at the moment so, no I wouldn’t say that I am only with you for your healing abilities.” Zuko said, wiping the blood on his shirt and returning to the doll, “now if you will excuse me Doctor Zuko is trying to do a very difficult surgery.”

“Head reattachment, looks serious, what are her chances doc?”

“Would saying one hundred percent survival make me seem arrogant?”

“Only if you don’t deliver on your promise.” Katara sat up cross-legged facing him, “now are you going to tell me what’s up with Korra?”

“She…I don’t think she wants to talk about it yet,” Zuko said, “I want her to trust us so I think we should wait until she’s ready to talk.” He didn’t meet Katara’s eyes, worried that his judgment was wrong, or that Katara would disagree. They had never kept secrets from each other before. Unless you count the months, they were in love with each other without saying anything.

“Just tell me if I should be worried,” Katara sighed. Zuko hated how cute her face was, scrunched up in concern. She loved so much, and she let it show so easily, he wished he could be more open.

“I will,” he assured her, “I told my mom about us.” He said, finishing up the doll and tying off the last stitch.

“Oh?” Katara crawled under the blanket, curling into his side as he reached over her to put the finished doll on the dresser.

“Yeah, she’s happy for us. She likes you a lot.” He said,

“Who wouldn’t like me?” Katara yawned, already almost asleep. Zuko smiled, always shocked at how easily she fell asleep when they were together.

****

The next time Korra used airbending was a few days later. Jun was running the tea shop which gave Zuko a rare look at life outside during the day. He spent it helping Noren build the set for the town play.

“Kiyi seems to like spending time with you,” Noren said casually, Zuko nodded, wiping sweat off his brow. He was sitting at the top of the stage, about twenty feet in the air, trying to hammer part of the set into place. It was frigid outside, he wondered if it was going to snow soon, then he wondered if Hira’a was southern enough to snow.

“There aren’t a lot of kids her age here are there?”

“There aren’t a lot of kids here period. Most parent-aged people went to fight in the war when the Fire Nation took over the Earth Kingdom, the day the war was lost. Not a lot came back.” Noren said, his face grim. Zuko’s mind flashed to all the empty houses in the village, he had never thought to ask about them.

“Oh.”

“It’s good she has a friend though,” Noren continued, passing him up another piece of painted wood from his spot further down.

“Yeah, she’s a good kid,” Zuko said, bracing himself against a strong breeze. It had been like that all day, strong winds that chilled him to the bone. He took a few deep breaths, focusing on the fire in his gut and trying to use it to warm himself up.

Korra, Sophie, and Micah were playing down below, gently hitting each other with the wooden swords. Korra and Sophie had created a whole scenario in their minds that Zuko couldn’t hope to keep up with, but Micah was trying his best. The toddler would stumble behind them, holding his own stick and flailing at the girls. Katara and Ursa watched from a little way away, talking and occasionally laughing at something. Zuko wished he could hear what they were saying and hoped the stories they exchanged weren’t too embarrassing.

“I just worry about her, you know,” Noren said, “she wants to go so many places and fight and, I just don’t think it’s safe.”

“I don’t think you want my opinion on what thirteen-year old’s can do,” Zuko sighed, “but I understand her desire to find something exciting to do. This town is too small for her, she has the avatar’s blood in her veins.”

Noren’s face turned dark, “I don’t want her to have your life.” He said resolutely. Zuko was so caught off guard by the seriousness in his voice. He reached down to grab another plank of wood just as a gust of wind blew, catching his cloak and knocking him off balance. Zuko’s limbs flailed but it was too late, he was falling.

He had fallen from great heights before and through muscle memory twisted himself into a position to roll when he hit the stage but before he could brace himself for the impact he stopped.

He didn’t hit the stage, he just stopped. He was floating, a gust of air keeping him afloat then cutting out, so he fell a few feet rather than a few stories. He sat up, knowing already what he would see. Korra stood there, her arms outstretched, her eyes full of tears. Her secret was out, he had seen and there was no way she could deny it. Katara had stood up when he began to fall and was standing, her mouth agape.

“I’m sorry,” Korra said, then she took off running again. This time she headed straight for the forest and Zuko and Katara were right behind her. She had barely made it to the edge of town before they caught up, Katara running in front and catching Korra in a hug. They fell on the grass, Korra staying curled up against Katara’s chest and sobbing.

Katara glanced at Zuko, a look that asked _Is this what she’s been hiding?_ He nodded.

“Korra it’s okay!” Katara said, Zuko sat next to her cross-legged in the grass. 

“I’m sorry.” She said again. Katara pulled back, pushing a wet strand of hair off Korra’s forehead. The child’s eyes were red and puffy, snot dripped from her nose.

“Korra it's okay! Just talk to us for a bit okay. You aren’t in trouble.” Katara said, using some of the water from her canteen to waterbend Korra’s face clean.

“I can airbend.” Korra said, looking down, “I learned when I had the bad dream by the pond.”

“The spirit world, of course.” Zuko said, “did Aang teach you?”

“Yes, he gave me the power. He said I had to practice so I could fight the mean man that killed him.” Korra sniffed again then stood up, facing them. Her fists were clenched, her face resolute, “I didn’t think I could but…but I’m ready now.”

“Ready for what?” Zuko asked,

“Once I learned airbending I would have to fight the mean man, right? I can do it.” She said, her voice trembling. Zuko could feel his heart break.

“Korra, did you hide this from us because you thought…once we found out we would make you fight?” he asked, hating the words he was saying. Korra nodded, wiping away another tear with the back of her sleeve. Zuko was speechless, he looked at Katara whose mouth was also hanging open.

“We aren’t going to make you fight anyone,” Zuko said, “especially not him.”

Korra’s fists unclenched, “but I remember at the north pole, that man Han said that once I learned airbending I could fight the king and end the war. He said it was my duty as the avatar.”

Zuko felt a wave of righteous anger spread through his body, he took a deep breath, he couldn’t yell now. He didn’t want to scare Korra, he would return to the North Pole and beat up Han quietly.

“Korra don’t listen to him okay? He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. _We_ are taking care of you and we are not going to let you fight the King,” Katara said, “you don’t have to fight anyone you don’t want to, ever.”

“Really?” Korra didn’t seem convinced. Zuko took a deep breath, trying to keep his cool. How dare he tell a _child_ she was going to have to fight his father?

“Of course not! That would be silly right, a little girl trying to fight the king.” Katara pulled Korra down into a hug, “I bet Aang would say that too.”

“Aang said that he’s sorry for failing you all.” Korra said, a dark shadow passed over Katara’s face, “he said that you would take care of me.”

“Aang didn’t fail,” Katara said, “and he’s right. You are in good hands.” Zuko hadn’t said anything, he was worried he would explode. He considered stealing away in the night and giving Han a piece of his mind. Sokka would go with him, they could leave and come back and no one would know.

“Zuko,” Katara said, nudging his knee, “Korra isn’t going to have to fight if she doesn’t want to, right?”

“Of course not!” Zuko tried to ground himself, he smiled at them, “we’re here to fight for you.”

“So, you will fight the scary man?” Korra asked him, her eyes wide.

“I’m going to beat the scary man,” he said resolutely.


	24. Chapter 24

The idea came to Zuko in the middle of the night.

“Katara, Katara are you awake?” he nudged her gently, she groaned and rolled over, looking at him with one eye. Her hair fell in her face, “we have to do a recon mission.”

“A what?”

“You know, information gathering. Just us, the painted lady and the blue spirit.”

“Where would we go?” she sighed, stretching her arms over her head. Zuko sat up and reached for a book of maps he had left by the foot of the bed earlier. He lit the lantern above their bed and Katara made a noise and covered her face with her pillow. He grabbed the map and looked at it for a moment,

“Here! Fire Fountain City. They have bulletin boards with news, political people go through there all the time. We should be able to get in and out and figure out what is going on with my father and Azula.”

“And then what?” Kitara’s voice was muffled through the pillow and Zuko realized the light was probably a bit much. He waved his hand and it went out. He used a smaller flame on his finger to read the map, careful not to light it on fire. She emerged from the pillow.

“Then we…we figure out how to beat them.” Zuko said, “without Korra. We can do it if we all work together.”

“You think so?” Katara was sitting up now, leaning her head on his shoulder and looking at the map, “you think we can win?”

“We don’t have a choice, do we? I’m tired of watching these kids grow up scared.” Bitterness seeped into his voice like a low fog. Katara nodded,

“Okay, let’s do it.” She said, Zuko felt a mixture of pride and relief, she was so ready to jump into action. That’s what made her follow Aang all those years ago, that’s why he couldn’t think of anyone else he would rather be with, “when do we leave?”

“Day after tomorrow? We have to make arrangements for Korra, and I have to let Jun know I’ll be out. Kiyi can help him at the shop while we are gone.” Korra was already leaning back, pulling him back down with her. She put her head on his chest and he shut up, “sorry for waking you up.” He said, kissing the top of her head before trying to fall back asleep.

The air was colder the day they left. Sokka had helped plan a route, two days to the city, three days in the city, two days back. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be caught up in bad weather, but it wouldn’t be anything they hadn’t dealt with before. Zuko felt his chest tighten with excitement, he had forgotten how much he loved those journeys with Katara when they were alone. He was happy to be surrounded by friends but there was a certain excitement about the times where it was just the two of them. 

Korra didn’t say anything when they told her they were leaving. She wordlessly packed a bag for the week, far more obedient than they had expected. Zuko could tell she was upset though. He was worried about leaving her but knew that she wasn’t alone, she would be safe. 

“You can play with Kiyi all the time! All-day! And I even convinced Toph to give you a week off of bending practice, you can do whatever you want.” Zuko was saying as they walked across town to drop her off. Katara was still at Sokka’s house preparing their stuff for the journey.

Korra didn’t say anything. She pulled her bag tighter into her chest and glared at the ground. “Don’t worry you will be safe with Auntie Ursa and Uncle Noren, and Sokka and Suki will be around whenever too.” He ruffled her hair gently. No reaction. “We will bring you back something too, maybe a new toy or um…some new clothes.” Nothing.

She mumbled something but before Zuko could ask what she said they had arrived.

“Come on in! Noren is almost done cooking dinner,” Ursa scooped Korra up and carried her inside, not even that brought a smile to the little avatars face. Zuko frowned, she must be really upset. He felt guilty for leaving, then he felt guilty for being excited to leave when Korra was so obviously not.

When they got inside Kiyi dragged him aside into her room, a bedroll had been laid out for Korra against the wall. She pulled a piece of parchment out from under her mattress.

“I want one of these,” she handed it to him proudly. It was a drawing of a knife.

“A knife?”

“A dagger.” She corrected, “see, says so right there.”

“Okay,” he thought of the dagger Uncle Iroh had brought him from Ba Sing Se. Ornate with letters on the side, if he still had it he would have given it to Kiyi, “you know it’s harder to fight with a dagger, right?”

“Only long-range, I read that if you get close enough it’s harder for swords to fight. Besides, it’s bigger than a fan so if Suki can use a fan then…”

“Right, but why are you telling me? Doesn’t the blacksmith make daggers?”

“Because, genius, I want a nice dagger. You’re going to a big city, just look around please?” She tugged on his arm, “please, please, please, please”

“Fine! Fine okay! I’ll see what I can do!” Zuko rolled his eyes, folding the parchment and putting it in his pocket, “but you have to do something for me.”

“Ugh, aren’t big brothers supposed to be nice to their sisters?”

“Not for free they aren’t! Take care of Korra okay? She’s had a rough week and I feel bad about leaving her.”

Kiyi groaned, “Ugh Fine. But you better bring me a nice dagger.”

“Only the best.” Zuko smiled, following Kiyi back into the main room. Korra was sitting on the couch. She looked small, the opposite of how she looked during training. Almost frail, like if you poked her, she might shatter. Zuko sat next to her on the couch,

“Hey, what are you worried about?” He asked whispered nudging her side, Korra looked up at him for the first time since they had said they were leaving.

“I know why you’re leaving,” she said bitterly, pulling away from him. Zuko sat back,

“What do you mean? We are just going to go learn a little bit about what’s going on in the outside world.”

“It’s because of me. I didn’t tell you about the airbending and now you are leaving me.” Korra’s eyes began to swell up again, “just like my parents left me in the north pole.”

Oh. That’s why she was upset. Zuko stammered, trying to figure out what to say that she would believe.

“Korra, your parents stayed behind to keep you safe! It’s because they love you. And we love you too! It’s only a few days I promise.”

“Yeah, okay.” Korra obviously didn’t believe him. How could he prove it? He tried to think of how he knew his mother loved him growing up but when he thought hard about it, he realized there were a lot of times that he didn’t know if she did or not.

“Korra listen to me, Katara and I love you okay? We aren’t mad about the airbending. We aren’t punishing you. You didn’t do anything wrong. We will be back before you even know we are gone I promise. It’s just like when Sophie’s family left, you didn’t think Sophie was mad at you right?”

“No…. I guess not,” Korra relaxed a little bit. Katara arrived before he could say anything else and they ate dinner together.

After dinner, right before they left, Zuko and Katara helped Korra set her stuff down in Kiyi’s room.

“Korra, I promise we will be back soon okay?” Zuko said again, “and if you need anything you can ask Auntie Ursa or Uncle Noren or even Suki or Toph.”

“What about Sokka?”

“If you really have to, you can ask Sokka,” Katara laughed, “we are going to be back before you even realize we are gone. You are going to have so much fun here,”

Kiyi had come in now and was sitting on her bed, “I can show you how to use the wooden swords so you can beat Orin next time!” she said eagerly. Korra’s eyes got wide and she finally smiled a little bit.

“There you go, you can learn how to use a sword while we are gone,” Zuko said, wondering how he managed to be surrounded by so many violent girls.

They said final goodbyes and donned their black cloaks before turning away from the town and heading into the darkness.

They wanted to get as far as possible before resting, Sokka’s map put them on the outskirts of a small town by morning. In the eight years they spent running from town to town, Zuko and Katara had figured out that it was safer for the two of them to travel at night when speed was important.

They didn’t talk much as they walked, falling into a comfortable silence. They each had a bag of supplies; the blue spirit mask was tied to the back of his head so he could put it on when needed. Katara had the veil tied up on her round hat.

He wasn’t sure why, but Zuko had a feeling things were about to start moving a lot faster.

It began to snow early the second day; the sun had just broken over the horizon and they found a small clearing near the edge of a cliff. Rocks stacked high enough to cut some of the wind chill, Katara set up the tent while Zuko made a fire. He was worried it wouldn’t stay lit if it began snowing much harder.

The soft white flakes covered them, standing out against the black cloaks they wore. They curled up under the tent, close enough to the fire to keep warm. He breathed deeply, trying to channel the sun to warm himself and Katara as she nestled deeper into his chest and tried to sleep.

Snow began falling harder as they got closer, Zuko noted that it doesn’t typically snow this far west in the Fire Nation and Katara suggested they might have chosen the wrong season for the trip.

“Can’t you build like, an igloo or something?” Zuko asked the final morning as he tried, and failed, to attach the tent to a nearby tree. They were on the outskirts of town and would rest for a few hours before heading in once it got dark. They had managed to find a spot that didn’t appear to have much foot traffic, hopefully somewhere they wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Don’t you think that an igloo would be a little more suspicious than a tent?” Katara asked, rubbing her arms to keep warm, “I miss my fur coat from the south pole.”

“I heard a story as a kid once about a koala sheep that was going to freeze to death and it just buried itself in the snow for the night. We could do that” Zuko suggested, leaning against the tree in exasperation.

“Why would a koala sheep need to bury itself? They are already covered in fur.” Katara stomped her feet on the ground for warmth, looking around for something they could do.

“I don’t know. It’s a kid’s story. Come here, let me warm you,” he held out his arms, Katara glared at him then knelt in the snow, pulling her hood far over her face.

“I am from the south pole, Zuko, I can keep myself warm thank you.” She said, her voice muffled from her cloak. Zuko rolled his eyes,

“Do you really think now is the time to be stubborn? After everything that’s happened, I swear if you freeze to death- “

“Oh, and you aren’t going to freeze?” Katara sounded angry but Zuko found it hard to take her seriously when she was in the shape of a ball in the snow. He sighed, rubbing his temple.

“Well, what do you think we should do princess of the south?” His voice was laced with sarcasm. When had this become a fight?

“What if we went into town and found somewhere to stay?”

“Yeah and immediately get recognized?”

“I’m trying to think of solutions here, Zuko!” Katara was frustrated, so was he. It was cold and he wanted to sleep, “it should be fine if we stay on the edge of town and don’t draw attention to ourselves.”

“This isn’t Hira’a Katara, every single person in that town knows what my scar looks like. I’m sure half of them saw that Ember Island Players play when the revival went around a few years ago.”

Katara stood up and Zuko was worried for a moment she was going to yell at him, but instead, she burst out in laughter. He stared for a moment before he too began to laugh.

“Just like old times, right?” He asked, “fighting over nothing, almost dying because we can’t handle the elements.”

“I think in the old times we just found a hotel,” Katara said, 

“Well unless you have some magical way to make my scar go away—”

Katara gasped suddenly and reached into her bag, digging for something at the very bottom. She pulled out a small box.

“Of course! I had forgotten about this, I got it a really long time ago just in case.” She opened the box, revealing crème colored makeup, “this should work to hide your scar!”

“Why didn’t you mention it before now?” Zuko asked, “we could have been using it this whole time!”

“I had forgotten about it! Sue me!” Katara stepped up and cornered him into the tree, using two fingers to gently dab the makeup around his eye. Her fingers were cold on his face, but she worked quickly and after only a few moments stepped back, admiring her handy work.

“I guess…if no one looks too closely it will be fine.” She said, Zuko wasn’t super confident with that review but they didn’t really have a choice.

They packed up and headed into town, finding the inn on the outermost edge and checking into a room. Zuko kept his hood up and tried not to look at anyone, Katara did all the talking and before too long they were stomping snow off their clothes and dropping their bags on the floor.

Katara immediately fell on the bed, wrapping herself in all the blankets so only her face was visible. Zuko went to the bathroom and caught his reflection in the mirror, he had forgotten that his scar was gone. A stranger was looking back at him. Someone who hadn’t angered his father at such a young age, someone who had grown up in the palace instead of banished out to sea. He saw in his eyes what he might have become, and he hated it.

The scar was a testament to how he had changed, physical proof that Ozai wasn’t going to keep him down. He washed the makeup off as quickly as possible before trying to wrestle the blankets out of Katara’s grasp and failing, settling to fall asleep on top of her so they both had the blankets

All the warmth Zuko had felt the night before with Katara seemed like a distant memory only twenty-four hours later. They were lying on a roof, half-buried in snow, straining to listen in on a conversation happening below them. Zuko pulled his hood back so only his ear was exposed, hoping it would help the muffled voices clear up.

It was a meeting of some politicians from the fire nation, Zuko recognized one of them as being a high ranking general in the military, Bujing He was one of Ozai’s advisors and had been sitting front row at the Agni Kai between Zuko and his father.

“I just don’t know what she’s doing- “one of the unfamiliar voices was saying, “She’s focusing too much on a few individuals, it’s only a matter of time before his Majesty steps in and puts her in line”

“She is our Fire Lord; I will not tolerate that kind of disrespect.” Bujing interrupted, “The Phoenix King knew what he was doing when he put her in charge. She is right where he wants her.” 

“I just don’t see how focusing so much of our time and resources on a few people in the southern water tribe helps us defeat the earth kingdom.” The third voice said, Zuko felt it was familiar too but couldn’t place it. He reached out in the snow and somehow found Katara’s hand, grasping it for warmth and emotional support.

“She’s doing what she’s supposed to be doing. It is not our place to question direct orders. We will learn more about her plans tomorrow.” Bujing said, an air of finality in his voice, “now leave my sight before I get upset. I want to sleep.” Zuko saw the light go out below. They waited awhile before getting up. Katara’s hat was completely covered in snow and Zuko smiled behind his mask as she tried to brush it off.

They crouched on the roof for a few moments, not wanting to move too fast and risk getting caught. Then they slipped away, it began to snow again and Zuko was grateful this time. The fresh snow would cover their tracks on the rooftop.

They slipped back into their hotel room window, Katara bent all the snow out of their room and onto the awning below.

“What did they mean about the southern water tribe?” She asked quietly, Zuko shook his head.

“I can only imagine Azula knows they can get to us through your dad, I bet they are looking for him. Don’t worry though, if they haven’t found him yet it means he’s probably figured out a good way to hide.”

“I’ve stopped worrying about my dad getting captured.” Katara said stiffly, Zuko knew she had to be lying but didn’t want to press it, “I’m more worried about what’s happening tomorrow.” 

As it turned out, tomorrow brought a visit from Azula herself.

Zuko and Katara were woken up early by the hotel owner rushing through the halls, announcing loudly that the Fire Lord was going to visit the city and she would be passing the hotel on her way into town.

They shot up and went to the windows. Zuko made the mistake of glancing outside before closing the curtain. He saw her precession walking into town, Azula sitting on a throne being carried in the middle.

The Azula before him was nothing like the crazed girl he had seen before. She sat, poised and still, on the throne. Her hair neatly pulled back into the traditional bun. Zuko could see her eyes darting back and forth but was shocked by how lifeless they looked, he was used to her eyes being like burning embers, now it was like the life had been sucked out of her. 

He knew he should close the curtain, but he had never seen his sister like that, and his muscles froze, he couldn’t move. She looked up and before he could force himself to do anything to avoid her, her dull eyes locked onto him. She held up a hand and the parade stopped.


	25. Chapter 25

The parade stopped, and Azula descended from the throne gracefully. Poised. Rigid. Her eyes stayed fixed on him, everything moved slowly. Zuko couldn’t hear Katara urging him to get down over the beating of his own heart.

“Hello, people of the Fire Nation,” Azula announced to the crowd. Zuko’s body tensed up, he felt the tightness in his chest when a fight was coming. He clenched his fists, trying to figure out the best way to end any battle quickly, “I have come directly from the South Pole where I am pleased to announce, we captured the most important member of the southern water tribe we could get our hands on,” Why hadn’t she attacked yet? Why hadn’t she sent her guards up to apprehend them or block off the exits?

“I am merely passing through your fair city, onto bigger and better things. Rest assured though; the power of our great Nation has not changed. The Phoenix King and I have been talking,” she looked up at him again, her eyes drilled into him, “and we will be meeting next week at the Southern Air Temple to break ground on the new construction. The New Ozai Temple will be constructed out of the ashes of the lost Air Nomads.”

She didn’t look proud and mighty like she had before, Zuko could sense something was wrong. She was looking straight at him and wasn’t attacking, there was something else in her furrowed brow. Fear? That didn’t feel right. She took a deep breath and opener her mouth to speak again, then settled into a hollow smile. It unnerved him, she moved stiffly, like a puppet being controlled by strings.

“The King’s new home will be in the remains of the Southern Air Temple. Fire Lord Sozin made the mistake of not destroying the physical place but rest assured, the Fire Nation will correct these mistakes,” a few people were glancing up at the window, trying to figure out what she was staring so intently at, “we have confidence the mistakes the Fire Nation has made in the past will ruin our plans no more.”

Zuko was certain he was the mistake she was talking about. He also knew that she was telling him to come to the Southern Air Temple. What he couldn’t figure out was why it felt more like a cry for help than a summoning.

Azula smiled at the crowd, they were muttering among themselves no doubt confused as to why she made this announcement on the outskirts of town and not in the center like she should. “Anyone who would like to hear more can join us in town square shortly.” She resumed her place on the throne, motioning for her parade to keep walking. As they passed, she looked up once more at Zuko and unmistakably mouthed one word to him, “ _help.”_

Zuko and Katara made it back to Hira’a in record time, they slept only once on the journey when both of them were falling over with exhaustion. They barely spoke other than to agree they had to follow what Azula had said, even if it was probably a trap.

It was the middle of the night when they made it back to the village. Snow was caked on their clothes from two days of solid walking, their feet were numb and sore. Zuko’s lip was cracked and bleeding from being chapped and Katara wasn’t in much better shape. They stopped at the entrance to the town.

“Home or Sokka?” Zuko asked, his voice cracked and if he had been any less tired he would have been embarrassed. He secretly hoped Katara would say home, they could collapse in their warm bed and worry about telling everyone what happened tomorrow. Katara glanced in the direction of their apartment.

“Sokka,” she said finally, defeat in her voice, “he has to know what happened to dad.”

They wordlessly made their way to Sokka, Suki, and Toph’s house, and to Zuko’s surprise, most of the lights were on. They knocked on the door and Sokka opened it.

“What the—how did you get back so fast? What happened?” He asked, standing in the doorway and staring at both of them.

“Sokka, Azula has dad again,” Katara said, her voice thick with exhaustion. Sokka’s eyes narrowed as he glanced between them,

“No, she doesn’t,” Sokka said, confused.

“Sokka please can we come in?” Katara said, “we heard from a few people that they captured dad, but we are going to go get him.”

“No, Katara, Azula can’t have dad.” Sokka stepped aside and Zuko followed Katara into the house, “she can’t have dad because he’s here.”

Hakoda was sitting in their living room, Zuko almost didn’t recognize him in fire-nation clothes but there he was.

When they came in Hakoda stood up and rushed to Katara, pulling her into a tight embrace.

Toph was sitting in one of the chairs and Suki on some pillows on the floor. She stood up too and went to get warm blankets for Zuko and Katara.

“What happened to you guys? You weren’t supposed to be back for two more days.” Sokka asked. Zuko crouched by the furnace in their corner and stoked the flame, causing it to grow and the heat radiated through him. Hakoda led Katara to sit next to Zuko in front of the warmth.

“How are you here dad?” She asked.

“I know I wasn’t supposed to come visit but it was an emergency. The fire nation raided the south pole.” Hakoda said, his voice tense.

“Wait a minute, if you aren’t the important southern water tribe member than…” Zuko trailed off as a horrifying thought hit him, “she has Tonraq doesn’t she?”

Hakoda nodded grimly, “we did everything we could but he just…he’s not a fighter and they took us by surprise. I don’t know if they were after me or if they really wanted him but either way, he’s been gone for almost a week now.”

“We have to tell Korra,” Katara said starting to stand up, Zuko grabbed her arm and pulled her back in front of the fire,

“Tomorrow, let her sleep tonight.”

“Where is she?” Hakoda asked, glancing around as if he had missed her.

“She’s with my mother,” Zuko said, “Oh, yeah… my mom lives here.” The explanation was lame and did nothing to absolve the curiosity on Hakoda’s face, but he didn’t ask anything else.

“What happened to you guys?” Suki asked, draping blankets over them.

They told the group about their trip but Zuko kept his concerns about Azula to himself. He hadn’t talked about it with Katara yet and was too tired to go into it that night.

“Why did Azula tell you all that stuff?” Toph asked, “That seems obvious even for her.”

“I don’t know,” Zuko said, “she might actually need help.”

“Why should we help her?” Toph asked,

“We have to save Tonraq for one thing, and we can’t let Ozai destroy the air temple,” Sokka said,

“Also she’s my sister, I can’t just abandon her,” Zuko said.

“She would abandon you,” Toph pointed out, “also you have a much cooler sister here.”

“We have to go to the Southern Air Temple,” Zuko repeated, “even if she didn’t need my help Tonraq needs help and we can’t just leave him.”

“Fine by me I guess,” Toph said, “I’ve been itching to kick some butt.”

“We should leave in four days to make it to the air temple in time.” Katara said, “poor Korra, she’s going to have to stay here again.”

“At least…” Sokka sighed, “at least this will probably be the last time we leave her. I don’t see us coming out of that fight unless we win.”

Zuko and Katara ended up sleeping most of the next day. When Zuko woke up, Korra was downstairs in the tea shop playing with Sophie. Ursa was sitting in the corner talking to Hakoda and Kiyi was reading in another corner. She was the first to notice Zuko had emerged and rushed up to him,

“did you get a knife?” she asked eagerly,

“Oh, Kiyi I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to shop around,” Zuko had honestly forgotten about that promise until that very moment, “I promise I’ll make it up to you.” He braced himself for her to be angry but instead, she just shrugged.

“That’s just as good, I think I want to try archery. Did you know you can light arrows on fire when you shoot them?”

“That’s great Kiyi,” Zuko said, pushing past his little sister and walking up next to Korra. She didn’t notice him until he grabbed and shook her, startling her and causing the child to break out in giggles.

“You’re back!” She threw her arms around him, “Katara’s dad is here!”

“Yeah I saw,” Zuko glanced up at Hakoda and his mother, both of them watching him with small smiles, “did you have fun while we were gone?”

“Yes,” Korra smiled, “Auntie Ursa let me stay up and read if I wanted! Kiyi showed me some cool books.”

“That’s great!” Zuko was glad she had fun with Ursa, at least it would be easier for her when they had to leave again in a few days. Katara had come down too and Korra ran up and leaped into her arms.

What Sokka had said the night before kept replaying in Zuko’s mind, “I don’t see us coming out of this fight unless we win.” He was right, they were going to face his father and his sister at the same time. There was no way they would be allowed to leave alive. He felt a twisting in his gut at the thought of leaving Korra alone, leaving her to face his father again when she was older.

“You’re staying now right?” Korra asked as she walked hand in hand with Katara back to the table with their parents.

Katara glanced at Zuko and he nodded tersely, she had to know.

“Korra we actually have to go again soon,” Katara said gently, Korra’s face fell.

“Why?”

“Your dad has been taken and we are going to go save him,” Zuko said, Korra sat down between them and stared at the table.

“Why did they take my dad?” She asked,

“Don’t worry about him okay, I promise we are going to bring him home and you won’t even know we are gone. This time it will only be a couple of days.” Zuko said, “And you get to hang out with Aunt Ursa and Kiyi again!”

“Is my dad with the bad man?” Korra asked, her voice was small and her eyes wide as she looked up at Zuko.

“I think so,” he said, he wanted more than anything to lie to her. To tell her he was okay and that they were just going on a trip. They could come back with Tonraq before Korra even knew he was gone.

“Where is my mom?”

“Your mom is safe.” Hakoda said, “we hid her away so no one can get to her.”

“Why didn’t you hide my dad?” Korra asked.

“We tried Korra, we really did. I’m sorry.” Hakoda said, Korra sniffed and looked down, hiding her face.

“I want to come with you to save him,” She said, her voice quivering.

“Not this time,” Katara said,

“Why not? I’m the avatar! I can fight him. Aang said I could.”

“Aang told you to trust us right?” Zuko said, “we are going to protect you. You will have plenty more fights, later on, let us take care of this one okay?”

“I want to help!” She said again, her voice stronger this time.

“You have to stay and practice for the play, right? You can’t leave Uncle Noren alone!” Ursa said, Korra nodded but she didn’t look convinced.

~~~

“You have been great friends to us and we um, are incredibly grateful for your help and kindness and um your friendship, so we just felt like we should tell you the truth- “

Jun and Miku sat across from Zuko and Katara. Katara was holding Boyang on her lap, bouncing the infant up and down and swirling a small spiral of water above his head, weaving it around his hands as the baby tried to grab it.

Zuko and Katara had decided to come clean with Jun before they left.

“I’m Prince Zuko, son of Ozai. The banished son of the Phoenix king, this is Katara of the Southern Water tribe. We aren’t married. Korra is the new Avatar. We were hiding out in this town to keep her safe.”

He paused, expecting Jun and Miku to react. They just stared at him blankly,

“We know.” Jun said finally, “well, we weren’t sure if you were married or not but the rest of it…Sokka is your brother, right? And Ursa is your mother? We were so shocked to hear that the Phoenix King’s ex-wife is from our little Hira’a.”

“Wait, you knew?” Now Zuko was the shocked one, “how did you know?” Jun and Miku exchanged glances,

“Well, I mean, two groups of strangers move to town at the same time and are instantly best friends? And Sokka looks exactly like Katara. Also, we um, saw Korra waterbending and firebending. And then we knew you weren’t who you said you were when Katara helped deliver the baby, thanks for that again, and you all also use your real names a lot around us.” Miku said, a bemused smile on her face, “we just weren’t sure if you wanted us to know so we pretended we didn’t.” She shrugged.

“And you…don’t mind?” Katara asked, she looked as surprised as Zuko felt.   
“You two are good people, you saved our family. Also, I think it’s pretty cool to be friends with royalty,” Jun said, “but really, what’s the deal with you two? That’s the one thing we couldn’t figure out.”

“We um, we are dating now. But that’s a recent development.” Zuko said,

“Good, we secretly wanted to believe that the marriage was real. So now what? Why are you telling us now?”

“We have to go fight and um,” Zuko paused, “wait you secretly hoped we were together?”

“Yeah!” Jun laughed, “you two are a cute couple. And really good with Korra, if you ever have kids of your own someday, they will be really lucky.”

“Um, thanks.” Katara said flatly, “anyways we got news last week that Korra’s dad has been captured by the fire lord. We are going to go save him and hopefully end the war forever.”

“That’s your…sister? And dad?” Jun stared at Zuko, “that’s rough.”

“Family is messy.” Zuko shrugged, “We wanted you to know in case something happens…Korra is staying here with my mother. If um, if anything happens to us we want to be sure she will be okay.”

“Of course, she will!” Miku smiled, “you two saved our baby so the least we can do is make sure Korra is safe and taken care of. Besides it’s not every day you find out your daughters’ best friend is the Avatar.”

“You can talk to my dad about that one,” Katara laughed, “he had the same realization.”

“Wait so you actually knew Avatar Aang? What was he like?”

“He was my best friend,” Katara said, “he was the kindest and most honest person I’ve ever met. And he gave his life trying to end this war, we are just following his footsteps.”

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Jun said, “you make the best tea I’ve ever had.” Jun’s voice was light, but Zuko could tell he was bothered by the truth that had now been confirmed.

  
They were going to leave in three days and Zuko genuinely had no idea if they were going to make it back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Sorry for the long delay! I had to focus on school for a few weeks but the good news is I just went from an unemployed student to an unemployed college graduate so I have lots more time to commit now :)   
> Anyway, this chapter is kinda eh but I wanted to get something out there, the next few chapters will be beefy! ! 
> 
> Also -- don't worry abt this story coming to a close soon! I already have a sequel in mind   
> (Korrasami???? Real parent Zutara? Fire Lord Zuko!???Azula redemption!? don't change that channel!)


	26. The End (Part 1)

The snow melted as they got closer to the air temple. Sokka had made a functional and almost safe hot air balloon to take them up. No one really spoke on the trip, there was no need. They all knew what was coming; they had gone over the plan so many times. There wasn’t much else to say. Zuko was manning the balloon, pumping fire into it to keep them afloat, Sokka leaned over the side, fiddling with something in his hands.

They had all donned their battle armor, Suki had done her Kyoshi warrior face paint and hair, Sokka wore the wolf head helmet. Katara was wearing her blue water tribe clothes, her hair back in the loops she had worn when they were younger. It has been so long since she had worn the clothes of her people, Zuko had forgotten how good she looked in them. They were finally ending the war they had fought in as children.

There was smoke coming out of somewhere in the temple when they landed on the northern side. Huge gray clouds swirled above the temple, making it dark even though the sun had not yet set. There were a few lights on, but it was mostly in shadows.

On their way up they saw two giant airships, one was Azula’s the other Ozai’s. Zuko’s palms clammed up, this would be the first time he had faced his father since he left to join Aang all those years ago.

They were going to deal with Azula first, Zuko had a somewhat unfounded hope that he could convince her to join them in the fight against his father. He knew it was unlikely but the way she asked for his help in the city kept nagging at the back of his mind.

Another thing kept nagging at his mind, something his mother had said before they left.

She took him aside, back to the greenhouse their last night in Hira’a.

“Son, I know you have to do what it takes to restore peace but…” she looked down, “if you can save your sister please try. She has suffered for too long and needs to feel the love I should have shown her. Please, convince her to give me a chance.” She sounded so desperate.

“I’ll do my best,” Zuko had said.

“And if you have too…” she pressed something into his hand, a small vial of clear liquid, “this is what I gave your father years ago. This is what killed Azulon.”

The vial felt heavy in Zuko’s pocket as they all leaped off the airship and landed with varying degrees of grace on the ground. Would he use it? _Could_ he use it?

“Where do you think she will be?” Sokka asked in a hushed voice, Zuko shook his head.

“I was kind of hoping it would be more obvious.” He admitted, walking away quickly to avoid Sokka’s withering glare.

  
They walked around the temple, keeping as close to the walls as possible. Toph was in front, feeling her way around and trying to sense people. Eventually, she stopped in front of one of the old air bending training grounds. She held up a hand,

“I think Azula is over there,” she whispered, “but she only has eight guards and there’s one other person with her.” 

  
They all exchanged final glances, Katara grabbed Zuko’s hand and squeezed it. He looked at her and tried to convey everything he had not yet said to her with a final look. If they make it out of this, he would never let them go into battle without telling her how much he loved her again.

She smiled softly and he knew in his heart she understood. She always understood.

  
They spread out around the arena, hiding behind pillars until they were in a position to take out the guards quickly and quietly. Azula stood in the middle of the arena looking at papers spread out on a table. One of the fire nation advisors was talking to her and pointing at various places on the papers. 

Sokka whistled and they simultaneously took out five of the guards. Suki and Toph leaped forward taking out the other three and Sokka and Katara ran up behind the advisor, Katara used blood bending to hold him still until Sokka could put handcuffs on him, pinning him to the ground and tying him up tightly.

Azula didn’t look surprised, in fact, there was a ghost of a smile on her lips when she turned to face Zuko.

“I see you got my message Zuzu. You and your little friends came at last.”

“Azula,” Zuko hadn’t actually figured out what he was going to say to her, “hello.”

He was glad the others were too far away to hear. Azula chuckled, “These are father’s plans to rebuild the temple in his image, I think it’s inspired.” She gestured to the table but Zuko didn’t take his eyes off her. He refused to let his guard down.

“Azula this ends today,” Zuko said, Katara stood at his shoulder, her hand protectively on the canteen of water she carried with her.

Toph and Suki were behind Azula, Sokka stood to one side with his boomerang at the ready. “We have you surrounded.”

“Do you want a little fight dear older brother?” Azula asked, blue lightning danced from her fingertips. Katara took a step back and then raised her arms quickly. Nothing happened for a moment, then with a loud crash water cascaded around them, filling the arena. Most of the water gathered around the edge, as if held back by an invisible wall.

A small pool of water formed around them, surrounding first Azula’s feet, then Zuko’s, then Katara’s. Zuko looked back at her with alarm, that wasn’t part of the plan. She was only supposed to connect Zuko and Azula but keep herself safe. She didn’t meet his eyes.

“We learned last time what happens when lightning and water mix. Now if you try to take any of us all of us will suffer.” Katara said. Zuko tried to swallow his anxiety, he was fine with his sister attacking him, but he never wanted Katara to have to feel Azula’s fury again.

They waited for a moment, Zuko could feel the electricity in the air. It began to rain.

  
“Fine. Let’s just talk.” Azula said, crossing her arms.

“Help us defeat father.” Zuko said, “together we are stronger than he is.”

“I’m sure that might be true, but what makes you think I would want to destroy him? So _you_ can be fire lord? So you can restore peace? Follow in the footsteps of the dead avatar?”

  
“Pretty much,” Sokka said, Azula shot him a glare,

  
“So good to see you again Sokka,” she sneered, Sokka’s face hardened and he tightened the grip on his boomerang, “but this is a family matter.”

She stepped closer to Zuko, Katara’s pool of water followed and expanded until the three of them were standing in the same puddle, Zuko wondered if he could push Katara away from the water fast enough if the need arose.

“Azula you aren’t happy being Fire Lord, are you? Always under his control? How is it any different from when we were kids? Have you ever been enough for him?”

“I’m not you Zuko.” She said coolly.

“No, you’re not. I was the lucky one. I found family and friends and love, you…you have nothing Azula. You’ve pushed everyone away trying to please father. But you won’t ever be enough for him.”

“You’re making me feel really good right now Zuzu, really want to join your team. You are so encouraging!”

“Azula please,” Zuko couldn’t finish his next plea because the advisor broke loose and attacked. A blast of hot air hit Sokka, throwing him back into a pillar. The stone cracked and Sokka fell, limp, against the ground. Katara and Suki ran to him and Toph trapped the fire advisor in a tall pillar of rock, no part of him was visible in the stone.

Zuko wanted to turn around and make sure Sokka was okay but he couldn’t let his guard down, Azula stared between Sokka and him, then glanced down and grinned wickedly.

“Your little girlfriend is helping her brother Zuzu, but it seems she can only focus on so much at a time.” Azula did a backflip and landed ten feet away from him, Zuko realized too late the pool of water had not followed her.

She punched two hot balls of blue flame at him and Zuko quickly leaped out of the way of one, kicking the other away and quickly firing his own fire back at her. The air lit up with flashes of blue and orange fire.

Zuko tried to push her away from Sokka to give Katara more time to heal, knowing she would help him as soon as she had the chance. Toph joined in, firing rocks at her and trying to trap her in earth but Azula was too fast and danced on top of the flying bits of Air temple.

Zuko dodged and fired, keeping up with Azula but not making any headway.

“Your tiny little water bender isn’t here to save you this time,” Azula said. That somehow comforted Zuko, she must not know Korra is the Avatar. They still had that secret.

“Azula listen to me! I don’t want to fight you!” Zuko shouted, fighting to be heard over their fighting. She sent a blanket of fire towards Toph, trying to burn her feet but Toph was prepared and shot up, flying over them and landing on a pillar high up in the air.

“I can help you! I want to help you!” Zuko kept shouting, hoping something would stick. Azula danced around, never getting close enough to touch but never too far away. Zuko jumped up over a flame and ducked under another, sending his own fire back at her but trying to aim low. If he could knock her off her feet Toph could restrain her.

“I want to be your friend Azula! I want to start over, I want to be your brother again!” He called out, Azula just laughed maniacally. There was a crash of lightning from the clouds that landed between them both, sending them flying backward. Zuko was up on his feet in an instant and Toph tried to restrain Azula but she was too quick.

Zuko was beginning to lose hope, maybe he wouldn’t have to fight his father after all. His sister would kill him first.

He looked around helplessly, Katara was still healing Sokka, Suki standing over them protectively. Toph was trying to lay traps for Azula to fall into but Azula was light on her feet and kept jumping and flipping away. Was this really it?

He lowered his arms and Azula stepped forward slowly until they were standing face to face.

  
“I’m done fighting you,” he said, “I promised I would do my best to help you but…if you don’t want my help there’s nothing I can do.” Zuko felt the hate in his voice, the bitterness. He actually wanted to help Azula, he pitied her, he loved her. He had tried to believe there was still his little sister somewhere inside, but her anger and ambition had overpowered any humanity Azula used to have.

“No one can help me Zuko,” she said, her voice low, “Mother was right, I am a monster.” Her hair stood on end and Zuko knew this was it, she was going to summon lightning and smite him where he stood. There was no way he could redirect her, no time to try and fight back. His last thought was that he didn’t want Katara to have to watch him die. He closed his eyes.

The lightning never came, instead, Azula crashed into him. No, fell into him. Someone had hit her over the head, shoving her forward and causing them both to topple. Once his confusion wore off Zuko flipped them over, so he was sitting on Azula’s chest, pinning her to the ground.

Toph rushed up and used rocks to bind Azula’s arms and legs, pinning her to the ground. Zuko stood up and looked around for what had caused her to fall.

Kiyi stood there, her spear in hand, breathing heavily and wearing costume armor from the play.

  
“No,” Zuko breathed, “you can’t be here.”


	27. The End: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> buckle up kiddos

  
“Who on earth is this?” Azula asked, staring incredulously at Kiyi, “Zuzu where do you keep finding these children?”

“What are you doing here?” Zuko hissed, stepping forward and grabbing Kiyi roughly by the arms.

  
“We…we wanted to help,” she said, she was shaking under his grasp, staring terrified at Azula, “is that…her?”

  
“Hello! Fire lord here! Nice to meet you!” Azula called.

“What do you mean _we_?” Zuko asked quietly, looking around. 

“I’m sorry I…I wanted to help. We wanted to help,” Kiyi looked like she was going to cry.

“Who else is here?” He asked again, his patience wearing thin. He already knew the answer in his heart, but he hoped that Kiyi would say something else.

“Korra and Naga,” Kiyi whispered, “Korra went to look for you somewhere else we didn’t know where you would be.”

Zuko’s heart began pounding in his chest, he turned back to Azula “Where is father?” he crouched down, so he was right next to Azula. Now he was angry. Nothing was telling him Korra wasn’t already in Ozai’s grasp, wasn’t already dead.

Azula’s eyes were trained on Kiyi, “Who is she?”

  
“Mom, mom kept talking about how she wished she had gone to help you and how she thought she might be able to talk to Azula,” Kiyi said, she sniffed then tried to harden her face, gripping the spear tighter, “I thought I could help and Korra wanted to save her dad.”

“I know who you are,” Azula said, “you look just like her.” The madness returned to her eyes, unhinged fury. Azula wrestled against the restraints, screaming. Blue fire poured out of her mouth as she yelled and Zuko took a step back, his arm protectively in front of Kiyi.

“You little…. you found her didn’t you Zuzu? You found her and brought this…this _thing_ here to torture me? Is that it?? Mommy’s favorite, always the perfect child. You had to just rub it in my face that she _replaced me???_ ” Azula’s voice cracked, the words spilled wildly out of her mouth. Zuko was reminded of how she looked during their Agni Kai all those years ago. 

“Azula that’s not it,” Zuko said.

“How long did it take her to start a new family after she abandoned us?” Azula asked, “And now you bring this…. this here.” -Kiyi stepped back behind Zuko, clutching her spear tightly- “Look upon your sister and see that the stories your mother told you are all true! I am the monster you were warned about! I am the crazy sociopath, so horrid and ugly she couldn’t even bring herself to say goodbye to me.” Azula was smiling and laughing but tears had begun to spill down her face. She was no longer resisting the restraints.

  
“Mom never said you were a monster,” Kiyi said quietly, stepping forward. Zuko tried to push her back but Kiyi plowed through and knelt at Azula’s side.

“Well, she lied then. Look at me. I’m nothing.” Azula said. She looked up at Zuko, her eyes looked hollow and dead. Katara touched Zuko’s shoulder gently.

“Sokka is fine he just needs to catch his breath.” She whispered, “we have to find Korra now.”

Zuko nodded, “Where is Ozai?” He asked Azula,

“And why should I tell you?” She asked, “Are you going to torture it out of me? Are you going to kill me if I don’t say anything?”

  
Sokka and Suki joined them, Sokka was clutching his side and grimacing in pain but still walking.

“You guys go look, we can stay and keep an eye on her.” Suki said, “Kiyi you are staying with us. Your father would kill all of us if anything happened to you,” Suki put her arm around Kiyi’s neck.

“Fine, Sokka and Suki stay here and watch her, Katara Toph, and I will go find Korra,” Zuko said, rubbing his temple. Maybe they could still save this, maybe Korra would be okay.

“You should really go find father first,” Azula said, “don’t you think?” Zuko hated that she was right,

  
“Fine, where is he?”

Azula looked at him intently, “If I tell you…if you defeat him what will happen to me?” she asked.

“I’ll take care of you.” Zuko said, “but you won’t be Firelord anymore.”

  
Azula locked eyes with him, he hadn’t really looked at his sister in so long Zuko forgot how piercing she could be. He expected her to fight again, but she just looked exhausted. She sighed, defeated.

“You have so many people ready to die for you.” She said. “He’s in the big meeting room, eastern side. And Zuko,” – he stopped to stare back at her- “end him.”

~~~~

Zuko didn’t have time to think about Azula’s sudden change of heart, but it did strengthen the last thread of hope he had managed to hold onto. He looked at Katara and they nodded,

“Toph come on,” Zuko called out, leaping up and climbing out of the arena.

They paused outside the doors to the large room. They were massive doors, but they weren’t entirely closed. Toph reached down and felt the ground, “He’s in there alright, and someone else but I don’t know who. He’s scared though.” Must be Tonraq, Zuko thought. Where was Korra?

Zuko suddenly felt terrified, he reached out and grabbed Katara’s arm before they could enter. She looked back and smiled, reaching up gently and cupping his face over his scar.

“Katara…” he couldn’t quite find the words to say what he wanted to say,

  
“You can do this.” She said softly, “I’m right here with you.” Zuko smiled and kissed her hand,

“I love you,” he said, “whatever happens just…don’t forget that.”

“I love you too,” Katara smiled again, how could she keep smiling? So effortless. He had to do whatever it took to protect her smile. He kissed her gently before squaring his shoulders and refocusing his thoughts on the fight they were about to have.

“Are you guys done being all lovey-dovey or do I have time to go vomit somewhere?” Toph asked.

“Let’s go,” Zuko responded. They pushed the doors opened and walked in with confidence far beyond what any of them felt.

This was not for them; this was for the whole world. This was for all the kids in Hira’a, this was for Korra.

This fight was for Aang.

~~~

Korra was in the room with Ozai, Toph hadn’t felt her because she wasn’t on the ground. She was floating in the middle of the room. Zuko had to hold up his arm to block some of the wind that was flowing around the room, he struggled to step forward. It was raining outside; water came pouring through a hole in the ceiling and was flowing around the room like snakes.

“Korra no!” Katara shouted. She harnessed some of the water and froze her feet, using the water to push herself forward towards the child.

Ozai stood in the middle of the room, facing Korra. He was laughing but the sound was drained out by the noise of Korra’s Avatar State sphere in the middle of the room. Korra slowly spun around to face Zuko, Toph, and Katara, her eyes were glowing blue.

“I came to help,” she said, her voice was layered with the voices of all the Avatars before her.

“I came to finish the fight,” This time it was only Aang’s voice that came out of her mouth, “I came to end what I started.” She slowly turned again to face Ozai but was too slow.

  
A bolt of lightning came crashing down through the hole in the ceiling, hitting Korra directly and causing an explosion. Zuko, Katara, Toph, and Ozai were all thrown back. Katara managed to bend enough water below them to soften the crash.

Instantly the wind died down, the rain was the only thing that broke the silence. Korra fell to the ground like a limp doll. Zuko stared long enough to make sure she was still breathing, if only faintly. Then he turned his attention back to his father.

Ozai had crashed into one of the stone chairs in the center of the room, breaking it into large pieces. Hair fell in his face and Zuko knew he was bruised and bloody under the armor he wore. Ozai looked up through his hair and made eye contact with Zuko, smiling.

He felt his scar burn the same way it did whenever he looked at the hand that gave it. He remembered how scared he had been in the Agni Kai, how small. Zuko wondered how Aang had felt going into the fight, they hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye to him before he left. Did Aang know he was going to die or was it a surprise?

  
Ozai’s eyes were darker than Zuko remembered. His skin was no longer taut but had developed wrinkles. His hair streaked with gray. He didn’t look as muscular as he had last time Zuko had seen his father, but he knew that didn’t mean he was any less strong.

Zuko glanced up at the hole in the ceiling, the full moon was visible, staring down at them. Katara would get her strength from Yue and Zuko hoped he could glean some off her.

The three of them walked slowly towards the center of the room. Zuko saw Tonraq, chained by the waist to one of the pillars. He had tired eyes and a tear-streaked face. Korra had fallen only a few feet away from her father. 

“Finally,” Ozai’s deep voice reverberated around the room, bouncing off the walls and echoing in Zuko’s mind. He felt weak at the knees, the voice he heard so often in his nightmares surrounded him now. He took a deep breath, he was stronger than this, “the prodigal son returns.”

“Your reign ends today.” Zuko said, surprised at how strong his voice was, “your abuse and your cruelty are going to stop, _now._ You treated me like I was nothing, treated all of us like we were nothing,” his voice got stronger as he kept talking, every step closer to his father gave him courage, “No longer will you scare children, no longer will you ruin families. The war is over.”

  
Ozai’s eyes stayed fixed on Zuko and he could see the anger behind them. Ozai simply smiled, a chilling soulless smile that made Zuko want to turn and run with his tail between his legs.

“Is it now?” He asked, “my worthless son, not even strong enough to beat his little sister in battle, not strong enough to stop me before now decides when wars end? You have no right to come here.”

  
Zuko noticed Katara was slowly gathering the rainwater that was falling through the open ceiling, it swirled around the sides and corners of the room. Out of Ozai’s sightline.

Toph released the chains binding Tonraq and he fell to the ground, gripping Korra and sobbing softly. Ozai’s eyes flicked over to them but he did not move.

“Tell me, what is your plan? Are you going to fight me? Even your precious Avatar couldn’t beat me. Neither of them could,” he looked at Korra with a malicious grin, “now I am the only person to have vanquished two Avatars.”

  
Korra was still breathing, did Ozai not notice?

“And now,” he stood up slowly, “I will do what I should have done all those years ago when you first showed how insubordinate and unruly you are. I will finally rid the earth of the worst mistake I ever made. My greatest disappointment.” He did not step closer but rather summoned another string of lightning and shot it directly at Zuko.

  
Zuko was prepared. He allowed the lightning to pass through him, feeling the energy flow through his veins and channeling it back at his father, hitting the roof and causing a large part of the ceiling to crash down behind Ozai. More water began to pour through as the rain picked up the pace. Katara made the water swirl around Ozai, trapping him in a whirlpool.

He burst through in a ball of flame and rolled on the ground, standing up face to face with Zuko.

Zuko was shocked to realize he was the same height as his father. Ozai had always been this massive man, tall and mighty. Now though, he looked small. Puny. Zuko felt courage again, maybe this was possible. Maybe they could beat him.

Katara brought down a wave of water, freezing it around Ozai but he quickly broke free, he glared at her with malice usually reserved for Zuko.

  
“So, this is who you have been running around with all these years?” He snarled. If Katara was scared she didn’t show it, Zuko felt pride swell in his chest, “a puny brat from the water tribe. I thought I got rid of all of you,” he raised his arm and swung at Katara, his hand ablaze. Zuko recognized it as the same move he had used on him during their Agni Kai. The move that gave him his scar.

Zuko dove forward, trying to move quickly enough to redirect the blow but he knew he wasn’t going to make it. He slid on the ground, useless, five feet away from them. His hair had come undone and fell in his eyes as he looked on in horror.

  
Just before contact Ozai’s arm stopped moving, it froze right in front of Katara’s face. She stared at him with her hands raised. Ozai stepped backward, his arms lowered. His face contorted into a mixture of confusion, panic, and anger as Katara forced him onto his knees in front of her.

The great Phoenix King Ozai, forced to kneel in front of Katara from the Southern Water Tribe.

“What is this?” He snarled, struggling against invisible restraints.

  
“You made a mistake coming here today,” Katara said, “Water benders are at their most powerful during a full moon.” Zuko pushed himself to his feet and stood behind Katara, she glanced at him, a silent question: _what now?_

Zuko didn’t know. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. He remembered the night in the forest with Kiyi, “will you kill your father?” she had asked. He remembered how scared Korra had been, “can you fight him for me?”, her cry echoed in his mind. He looked back at Tonraq and Korra. She was awake now and running over to them, tripping over her own feet as she stumbled towards them.

“Do you want to know how your little friend died all those years ago? It’s because he was a coward, he was weak. He almost had me you know, just like you have me now. But he couldn’t kill me. He was pathetic. That’s why he died.”

“No,” Katara said softly, “Aang was stronger at twelve years old than you will ever be, even if we let you live out the rest of your miserable life.” Korra stood behind Zuko, gripping his leg and peering at Ozai with a courage Zuko had never seen in anyone, let alone anyone her age. How could he force her to watch him kill his own father? How did that make him any better?

“Just do it,” Ozai said to Zuko, a final challenge. “You’ve always wanted my respect, now you can have it. Just kill me and I’ll know you aren’t the coward I always thought you were.” Zuko felt the room shrink, his chest tightened. He wasn’t sure what to do. What would Aang have done?

“Kill me!” Ozai shouted, “Just end me you weak, pathetic coward!”

Zuko glanced down again and put a hand on Korra’s head. He knew what he was going to do.

“No,” Zuko said softly.

“What did you just say?”

Zuko stepped forward so he was standing next to Katara. His hair was still in his eyes, his fists clenched, “I said, No.”

  
Toph brought the chains that had been holding Tonraq around and used them to tightly bind Ozai’s hands and feet, restraining him so he could only move from the neck up. Ozai laughed,

“You are just as weak as I thought you were. You can’t even kill me; I’ve caused you so much pain and yet you let me live? How soft have you become? Do you really think you will make a good fire lord like this? I am the Phoenix King! You cannot defeat me!”

Ozai screamed, fire pouring out of his mouth and surrounding all of them. Zuko quelled the flames around Katara and Korra but stoked the ones surrounding himself.

“No, father. I am the Phoenix. I will rise from the ashes of the fire nation and make things right; I will right the wrongs of my ancestors and bring peace. I will end the war and I will lead the fire nation into a new era of growth and prosperity.” The flames rose higher around him, Zuko felt their power flowing through him. He rose in the air, his feet supported by the fire below.

“I will become Fire Lord Zuko. I will not kill you, you will have to sit by and watch me destroy everything you worked so hard for. You will live, father, that is your punishment.”

All at once Zuko extinguished all the flames and the room went quiet, the only light was once again from the moon above. Every muscle in Zuko’s body was tense, he didn’t remove his eyes from his father until Toph trapped him entirely in stone and began pushing it towards one of the airships.

Zuko let out a shaky breath and finally turned around to meet Katara’s gaze. Tears streamed down her face and she rushed up, leaping and throwing her arms around him. Zuko grabbed her waist and spun her around, burying his face in her hair.

This time, they did not fall.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hollyyy shit i cant believe i actually finished? My first fully completed work (imagine party hat emojis)
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading and commenting and encouraging me! I wouldn't have written this much without the constant support and feedback so this means the world to me~~~ 
> 
> I hope you like the ending! I've had it in my head for months and am so excited to finally put it out there. 
> 
> First chapter of the sequel is already posted~~ 
> 
> As far as part 2 goes the plot is pretty open so far so if you want anything specific you wanna see let me know here or go comment on the first chapter on that fic! I'm open to suggestions/prompts! :) 
> 
> Anyway lov u all hope you are all doing well and staying safe <3 <3


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